The Dominion SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1943. BOMBED BRITAIN'S CASUALTY LIST

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 101, 23 January 1943, Page 4

The Dominion SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1943. BOMBED BRITAIN'S CASUALTY LIST

Before the latest British raids on Berlin enemy air attacks on the United Kingdom had been small and isolated affairs, or, as has been suggested, “token raids to keep up appearances.” That the Germans should now have detached a large force of raiders for a daylight attack on London which in the circumstances could have no military value, at a time when the resources of the Luftwaffe must obviously be strained to the utmost on the Russian and North African fronts, very strongly suggests that the attack was simply a propaganda affair to satisfy public clamour within Germany itself. Of more acute concern to the German High Command must surely be the problem of lost air superiority on these two fronts, a much more vital matter than dropping bombs over London. The raid, unhappily, had its tragic aspect in the toll it has taken of children killed and injured when one of the schools was attacked, deliberately and callously, it seems, by the Germans flying low and spraying their objectives with bombs and machinegun fire. It is admittedly difficult to avoid casualties to civilians, including women and children, even when bombing raids are directed at purely military objectives, but in this case the aim appears to have been to indulge in a brief orgy of wanton frightfulness as an act of vicious reprisal for the R.A.F. attacks on Berlin. The civilian casualty lists from the German air raids on Britain bear sombre testimony to the tragic side of total war. Yet the total is not nearly as large as had been expected. This expectation was based on the high, casualty rate recorded in the Spanish Civil War. Actually, as the London Economist has pointed out in a survey of the position, “it took nearly three years of war to produce a total which, before war broke out, even the soberest estimates expected would be reached in three weeks. According to the official statistics the total of serious cases in the first year of the war was 3474, including 1494 killed. This number swelled to 103,379, including 47,498 killed, by the end of September last. The following.table published by the British Ministry of Home Security shows the varying intensity of the raids, and the fluctuating incidence of the casualties over that period: Injured anti Total

It will be noted that the total for the last quarter of 1940 was greater than for the’whole of the following year, and that the numbers since then, with occasional fluctuations, have shown on the whole a downTerrible as has been the experience ot the British people, it has nevertheless provided some valuable data. The human body, it is pointed out, has shown astonishing resistance to bombs. Only a minority of those injured were permanently disabled, a fact very largely due to the high efficiency of the. first-aid and hospital services. The total number injured and detained in hospital was 55,881, but the number of disability pensions applied for and granted reached the comparatively small total of 9300. There was a complete absence of “shell-shock” cases and bomb neurosis—another striking fact., ihe most widespread problems were those arising-from the destruction ot buildings, and the organizing of food, shelter, and clothing .for tie homeless Taken all in all, it may well be asked, was the enemy s indiscriminate bombing worth the price the Germans ? re n ° w C ? O1U ‘ pelled to pay under the terrific blastings of the big R.A.F. laids.

Sept., 1939-Aug., 1940 .... Sept.-Dee., 1940 nl 1041 . . . Killed. .... 1,494 .... 22,282 .... 20,863 Detained in Hospital. 1,980 28,522 21,839 • Serious Casualties. 3,474 50,804 42,702 1942 .... 114 59 173 24 20 44 .... ' 21 13 34 987 1,046 2,033 .... 399 420 825 lYldj .... 293 358 651. 41.1 871 1,282 403 509 9J2 207 238 445 Totals .... 47,498 ' 55,881 103,379