The Waikato Times THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1940 BRITAIN’S AIR WEAPON

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21198, 22 August 1940, Page 6

The Waikato Times THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1940 BRITAIN’S AIR WEAPON

Because the British and Allied cause in this war has suffered so many reverses and so many retreats before the enemy have been found necessary, British Empire opinion is chary about accepting as fact statements that really effective blows have been struck against Germany. The London Times says the only possible conclusion is that Britain has “won the first round” of the aerial assault on the British Isles. But British minds have been steeled to meet unfavourable news and are disposed to be sceptical about claims to success at this stage. They are inclined to doubt, or to fail to assess at full value, the losses inflicted upon the German Air Force. Perhaps it is well that public opinion is so stolid and so well prepared for a long and bitter struggle. • Britons can, however, safely permit themselves some satisfaction and pride in the achievements of their own airmen and look forward to the possibility that if the aerial war is continued on the present lines Germany will exhaust her strength and lay herself open to damaging attacks from the British Air Force, which is steadily growing in strength. And what of the contradictory figures relating to losses issued by the two belligerents ? From many sources come assurances that the British figures err on the conservative side and that the German claims are deliberately inflated as a definite policy. Several notable commentators have described the British methods of computation and declare that where there is any reasonable doubt about the destruction of a machine no claim is made. Even more convincing is the testimony of a well-known American journalist, Mr H. R. Knickerbocker, who as a neutral would not be expected to falsify reports of the battles. He says that if Hitler does not invade Britain soon he will not have an air force left to do it. “Six weeks of this,” he adds, “will put Hitler’s air force out of business.” He declares that the British estimates of the German losses are an under-statement of the position. A competent Australian journalist also has been making special inquiries into the subject and arrives at a similar conclusion. Regarding Germany’s claims, there is overwhelming evidence that the High Command has exaggerated most incidents out of all proportion, with the intention of cheering the German people. It is perhaps significant that large-scale German raids are becoming more spasmodic. The disorganisation of squadrons through losses of men and machines must be having an effect on the efficiency and striking power of the enemy. What the enemy has suffered in loss of morale is difficult to assess, and this aspect of the matter possibly explains why the Germans are desperately attempting to minimise the effectiveness of the British Air Force. The practical certainty that one in perhaps every six machines will be shot down in a raid, if known to the pilots, must lead to loss of morale and loss of enthusiasm for the task. And all the time British airmen are hammering away at targets in Germany and German-occupied territory. Possibly Britons do not yet fully realise the extent to which the Air Force has leapt into the forefront as a powerful defensive and offensive weapon, largely because scepticism has become a habit.