AIR DEFENCE IN LONDON

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23962, 1 June 1943, Page 3

AIR DEFENCE IN LONDON

ACCOUNT GIVEN OF GROWTH FIRST GREAT BARRAGE DESCRIBED LONDON, April 12. The comparatively weak defence of London at the beginning of the great raids in September, 1940, was fully appreciated by the Anti-Aircraft Command. The "Fixed Azimuth" barrage system, depending on sound locators, was inaccurate and cumbersome and could produce only a small volume of fire Lorn a large number of guns. All kinds of experiments were tried, but without success. Then an important conference was held. Gun-position officers made it a point of honour that, however handicapped they might be, particularly by the backward state of radio location, they would put up such a barrage C,at very night as would hearten the civilian population, if it did nothing else. All the schemes the scientists of Operations Research could devise were explained to them, and the result of their efforts is told in “Roof Over Britain” (Stationery Office. 9d). published recently. “The result was remarkable,” it states. “Punctually to time, the German bofnbers arrived—and they were met by a roar of guns which must have astonished them as much as it heartened the Londoners. Driven Up to 22,000 Feet "The enemy had been flying at 1200 feet; as soon as the barrage opened they climbed to 22,000 feet. Many turned back, and at least nine aeroplanes were shot down by anti-aircraft fire. "Guns were in action all night, and at dawn, as the ammunition lorries moved into the sites to replenish the unprecedented number of rounds which had been fired, the gunners were washing out the hot bores of their guns. "Everywhere in London people said, ‘Thank God, we are hitting back.’ The morale of London jumped 100 per cent. “On that barrage, so crudely begun, has been built the most effective defence that scientific brains could produce." The book tells how, at the height of the raids, the Royal Corps of Signals faced almost insuperable difficulties in laying a two-mile cable to a gun station on the Isle of Dogs when telephone communications had been severed. The line went through or round devastated and burning buildings, and nobody knew whether it would function, but at the first test it did. Then the siren sounded and another night of raiding began. Another story describes how men of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps got a cable through a pipe embedded in concrete. A kink in the pipe stopped all progress until somebody had a brilliant idea. A ferret was borrowed. A piece of string was tied to one of its legs and the other end fastened to the cable. The ferret struggled through and the cable followed. 6000 Men in One Raid When the Royal Air Force made its 1000-bomber raid on Cologne last May 6000 men flew over theAarget—a total roughly equivalent to the bayonet strength of an infantry division. 'Formidable operations of this kind depend on accurate detailed planning by the experts at Anti-Aircraft Command. "Roof over Britain” tells how they get some of their knowledge. Officers of the Command, specially trained for the purpose as air gunners, often fly with our bombers and make elaborate reports of enemy fire-control methods; the use of coloured searchlights or signals; the position and number of searchlights; and the system of operating them. The reports go to a suburban vicarage which, with two adjoining Army huts, is the headquarters of the Research Group of Anti-Aircraft Command. . Here about 70 scientists and statisticians study the information and apply it effectively. As a result we are able to maintain the high efficiency of our air attack. The book relates how one night an enemy aeroplane circled a gun site in Scotland. The machine took' a shallow dive at the site, and out of it came a man by parachute. The machine crashed and burst into flames. Two anti-aircraft signalmen ran to a farmhouse and found the parachutist, who gave his name as Alfred Horn. One of the soldiers asked if he would like to return to Germany if he had the chance, and the German shouted: “No, no, no, no.” Service officers arrived. One told another that he recognised the man as Hess. “Don’t be a fool,” was the reply. But the airman was Hess.