A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 25, 24 October 1942, Page 6

A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Aerial Warfare RECENT TRENDS IN EUROPE Events of the past few months oi. battleflelds all over the world have laid even greater stress, if such were necessary, on the fact that for military success today air power is an essential. In the battle of Stalingrad Germany has come more and more to rely on the use of air attack in her attempt to reduce the stubborn defence put up by the Russian land forces. There has been mention of tlie employment toy the Germans of as many as 1500 flights over a one-mile sector in 'Stalingrad in one day. It is obvious that the Germans have concentrated a very heavy air force to aid their land forces, and that it is having a material effect on the course of battle. ’ -The Russians apparently have difficulty in matching this force. We hear little of late of reciprocal attacks on the German land forces and lines of supply, and there has even been mention that the Russians are using converted training aircraft for bombing purposes. This may indicate a trend of tactics, but' it may also mean a shortage of the proper types of aeroplanes for the purpose. Western Europe

Over Britain, France, the Low Countries and Germany, there is a different picture. Germany is definitely short of the right types of aircraft to meet the United Nations’ attacks. The recent raids on Lille, Lorient, and an air base in N. France by the United States Flying Fortresses and Liberators, the' raid on the fichnieder armament -works at le Creusot by the R.A.F. Lancasters, and the daylight raid on Hanover and other towns in north-west Germany by Mosquito aircraft of the R.A.F., all go to support this, even though the raids on Lille and Lorient showed that there were some fighters to try and ward off those attacks. All the above raids were very successful, with the. United Nations' losses on a very low ratio to the attacking forces. In the Lille raid the bombers had a fighter umbrella, though the greatest loss to the Luftwaffe was inflicted by the 'bombers themselves. The Lancasters which flew to le Creusot were totally unprotected, as were the Mosquitoes over Germany. When one compares the le Creusot raid with that on Augsberg, also carried out by Lancasters in daylight, the disparity of loss ratios of the attacking forces is remarkable. Of 12 aircraft which attacked Augsberg half were lost, and others only returned to their base with difficulty. Ninety-four aircraft attacked le Creusot and the neighbouring power station, find but one of them was lost, with the possibility that it was its own bombs which blasted .it from the sky. German Defence

It would be unwise to assume that the results of the le Creusot raid may be taken as an earnest of similar results from daylight raids over Germany. In .the first place, it is possible that the defence was taken entirely by , surprise. Secondly, with Germany presumably short of aircraft in the West, it is quite possible that their forces are reserved for the defence of more vital areas in northern France and Germany. The defence of the German people, moreover, would certainly be looked upon by the German High Command as more important than that of the .people of occupied France. Taken, however, with the good results of the Mosquito raid on northwest Germany, it may be that the United Nations, so long as the Luftwaffe is preoccupied, with Stalingrad, Malta, and other .points in the Mediterranean, have a golden opportunity to hit hard at all reachable daytime targets in Germany and German-occupied territory, with reasonable hope of escaping serious losses. If the weather. remains suitable, we may see a steady series of such attacks, which, from the point of view of accurate .bombing and damage inflicted, are far ahead of even the heaviest night attacks.