THE MAIN BOUT
AIR OFFENSIVE BY NAZIS AUTHENTIC “ BIG PUSH ” ;United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) NEW YORK, Aug. 15 In spite of all the apparent German preparations for invasion of Britain, there is a school of thought which holds that the present air conflict could conceivably determine the issue of the war, so that the invasion question is secondary. The famous designer of American military aircraft, Mr Alexander Seversky, declares in an article in the New York Times:— “ The present aerial war is not a preliminary, but the main bout. “ Some reports claim that it is the prelude to invasion, but actually it is the authentic ‘ big push,’ because, if Britain loses the present fighting, it is a mere military detail whether Hitler prefers invasion or desolating the nation by bombs from the air. “ The world has not yet understood that this is the first all-air battle which imaginative strategists have visualised for years. Britain will be won or lost during the present encounter. A New Trafalgar “ It is a new Trafalgar, but nothing justifies gloom or prophecies that Hitler will be able to neutralise the Royal Air Force. “ Britain is besieged, but there is no sign of her aerial walls cracking. A few days of bad weather, however, would be a godsend, and would permit her pilots to rest, and her aeroplanes to be repaired.
“It will take time for the world to realise that defeat is possible without the use of ground forces.”
Leland Stowe cables from Bucharest to the New York Post the suggestion that the German raids are not necessarily the prelude to invasion. “ On the contrary,” he says, “ the Nazis hope to weaken British morale and pave the way for peace talks.” Similar reports are circulating in Wall Street and Washington. It is said there that von Ribbentrop, Hitler’s Foreign Minister, believes Britain could be persuaded to sit at a conference-table, and that the Germans are becoming alarmed at the damage to their own cities, which is now almost extensive.
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Bibliographic details
Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21198, 22 August 1940, Page 7
Word Count
335THE MAIN BOUT Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21198, 22 August 1940, Page 7
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