BOMBING TO PLAN

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21336, 5 February 1941, Page 4

BOMBING TO PLAN

METHODS OF AIR FORCEj i REPRISALS NOT ENTERTAINED VICTORY FINAL OBJECTIVE Laymen who demand as a reprisal for the Nazi Luftwaffe’s indiscriminate attacks on civilians that German cities should be similarly treated will be interested by an aviation expert’s delineation of the more deadly method employed by the R.A.F., and of its greater influence as a factor to achieve the real purpose of the war—the smashing of the Nazis. By the defeat of the Luftwaffe and the Nazi war machine, attacks on civilians will be brought to an end. Any diversion from this prime purpose plays into the Germans’ hands. This aviation expert declares: “There js no place in the Royal Air Force plan for ‘reprisals’ which, in any event, are far less effective a means to the end than the uninterrupted conduct of the plan itself. Any such diversions serve only to delay the execution of a plan which is slowly but surely crippling the resources of the enemy and, in its entirety. must inevitably bring him to defeat.” Collaboration of Experts He says this plan was adopted in outline long before a bomb was dropped. Its execution represents the collaborative work of strategists of air warfare, of industrial experts in many spheres, of technologists and scientists. “Oil is the lifeblood of modern military power,” he says. “It is by persistent hammering at the refineries in which the oil is processed, the great reservoirs in which it is stored, and the lines of transport by which fresh supplies can be brought in and distributed, that the Royal Air Force aims at draining the lifeblood from the enemy’s military and industrial systems and so immobilising the war machines of the dictators. Attacks on other objectives which figure in the Royal Air Force’s plan of bombing, such as aircraft factories, armament works and powerstations, are ordered from time to time as expediency dictates or striking power permits. But, valuable though their short-term effect may be in disorganising production and hampering immediate plans, they do not in the long run have the decisive and far-reaching result which can be attained by depriving the enemy of the vital resources, such as oil, fuel and raw material, upon the regular supply of which the continued working of his armament factories and power-stations wholly depends.” Blockade by Bombs The offensive plan of the Bomber Command may thus be described as largely a plan of blockade. It does not depend solely upon the arrest of vital supplies before they reach the enemy but is capable of reaching right into the heart of the enemy’s territory and snatching vital resources away from him. “This plan of aerial blockade has already proved itself one of the greatest weapons in our offensive armoury,” the expert said. Vast quantities of oil, stored in Germany against the outbreak of war or since captured in invaded countries, have been systematically wiped out by bomber forces which have ranged the length and breadth of Germany and even scoured the occupied territories to seek out and destroy each maior oil store in the enemy’s hands. “Fresh oil supplies can, it is true, be brought into Germany. But it will profit the enemy nothing if Rumanian oil, safely delivered, is then attacked by the R.A.F. and blown up with the wreckage of a Hamburg storage tank. “There is in Germany, too, a vast synthetic fuel industry, and air power enables our bombers to reach those plants and set them ablaze. Experts Aim Bombers “Though the principles of the airoffensive plan are fixed, and the nature of the objectives which are to have priority of attack has long since been decided, the exact choice of targets, and no less important, the frequency with which they are attacked, are matters upon which the advice of experts, versed in every detail of the changing needs and conditions of Germany industry, are essential. “The specialist staff of the Ministry of Economic Warfare supplies this need, and objectives recommended by it are systematically attacked until such time as reliable information indicates that the destruction has been complete or that the damage inflicted has been sufficient to bring production to a standstill. “If and when the plant concerned is rebuilt and production resumed, it is again included in the bombing plan and duly dealt with. Towards Final Phase “By the time the winter has passed and the nights grow shorter the rapidly increasing strength of the Royal Air Force will be ready for action. “Then, the first phase of its offensive plan completed, the activities of the Bomber Command may be expected to assume a new direction and the aerial blockade to be in part replaced or augmented by a ‘fighting offensive’ directed at throwing the German and Italian air forces on the defensive, and so preparing the way for daylight operations, and the final phase.” The real reprisal for the Luft- i waffe’s bombing of British civilians will be—victory.”