CO-ORDINATION SECRET

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 6, 14 September 1943, Page 3

CO-ORDINATION SECRET

OF ALLIED SUCCESSES Perfect co-ordination between the three services on land, sea, and in the air. combined with greater strength and. better equipment than ever before, has resulted in the magnificent successes of the United Nations in North Africa (wrote Peter Mascfield, correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance, on November J4). Only now is the full value of the task done by the Air Arm coming to be realised. Both in Egypt and Morocco the Allied air forces laid down the foundations on which further operations have been based, and will be extended in the future. * In Egypt, the land battle began on October 2'i. The air battle began many weeks earlier. The land, battle in Egypt was con- * fined in the Initial stages to the front; the air battle in preparation and support covered a large part of Europe. In its fundamentals, the task of * the Allies' air forces has been threefold. First, it has been to isolate, the battle-field, to cut off Rommel from his sources of supply, and to break Ills communications across the Mediterranean and so rob him of essential fuel and reinforcements. This task was entered into with enthusiasm by the crews of British and American heavy bombers, flying from England and from Egypt, and by medium torpedo-bombers and long-range fighters flying from Egypt and from Malta. All Routes Secured During the last few months a number of heavy four-motored bombers, -with all the specialised, ground organisation they require have been based in Egypt. Jhese Handlcy-Page Halifaxcs and Consolidated Liberators have pounded enemy ports in North Africa, smashing ships unloading at docks an 1 making the ports themselves a mas: of rubble. They have also attacked convoys en route through the. Me terranean and sunk many ships ai sea. ■- The great range and heavy

loads of tlie Halifaxcs and Liberators made 1 possible, the scouring of all the routes leading to Rommel's forces. Simultaneously., heavy bombers, chiefly Lancasters Hying from England, dropped hundreds of lons ol bombs on Genoa and other Italian ports from which .supplies were forwarded to Rommel. From Malta have come more bombers and tor-pedo-bombers further to harass the enemy. As a .result of all this action in tlie closest co-operation with the Royal Navy, not a single tanker has readied the African ports of the enemy during the last seven weeks. Thus, in the first plia.se, that of the isolation of the battlefield, the Allied air forces have done extremely well. 'flic second duty of the Air Ann was to gain command of the air above the Western Desert both to protect our attacking forces and cover our communications. Supermarine Spitfires, equipped with tropical air filters and other gear, have done magnificently in this essential task of driiving tllO enemy from the air. Spitfire Again Supreme Once again the, Spitfire lias shown itself the world's greatest fighter at any height. Ably reinforced by Hawker Hurricanes and Curtis Kittyhawks. the Spitfires have swept the air clear of Axis air forces all over the battlefield.

Then came the third duty—intervention on the battlefield itself. Having cut off the enemy from his supplies and gained local air mastery., the Allied forces, turjied to the ground attack. The preparatory work was done before, the advance began. Now the Hurricanes and Kittyhawks could return from .strictly fighter duties and load bombs for ground strafing. All the versatility of these British and American aircraft came into play. Fighters one minute 1 and bombers the next, they were able to fling their weight into whatever task demanded them the mod.

Under the cover of an ait.' umbrera sent up by the lighters, the medium bombers took up the attack as well. Nearly all these medium bombers which have done .such

magnificent work are "American- — Douglas Bostons, Martin Baltimores, and North American Mitchells. They have planted bombs with deadly precision wherever the Army needed them the most. The efTeet has been devastating. No Adequate Reply Once the enemy was in retreat, the air attack increased in fury and in result against the lines of transport vehicles herded together behi'nd road blocks and against enemy aircraft grounded for lack of fuel, the (Germans had no adequate reply. for two reasons. J n the first place, the demands on the. Luftwaffe have been .so great on' the Russian front and to meet the constant Brit- I ish and .American threat from England that Rommel received an inadequate number of aircraft to meet the Allied Middle East Command. In the second pla:-e. the aircraft lie liad were not good enough for the job in hand. The Spitfires made short work of the Messersehmitt 109's, ■Junkers 78's, used for dive-bombing. Were .slaughtered in droves by every Allied fighter which could, get at them. The enemy attempted to bring up 'uppli'es in Junkers transports, sometimes towing gliders. Many were intercepted by Bristol Beaufightev long-range fighters and simply shot cut of the air. So, under the cover of one of the greatest concentrations of first-class air power ever assembled, the advance goes forward.. In Morocco, the Air Arm is playing the .same vital part. Aircraft flown ashore from carriers operate from airfields around Algiers and other captured points. From these airfields,. Allied fighters can repel any Axi>i attempts to strike a coun-ter-blow. On these bases, too. a great air force can be assembled to strike eastward N and to increase the presuic on the Axis supply routes across the Mediterranean and to attack Sieilv itself.

The airpower of the United Nations, firing in perfect co-ordination with the land armies, the navies, ant! the merchant service, i's build;nii u|) control over tiie Mediterranean. which is the key to I Ik* backdoor into (iermnny.