GERMAN AIR POWER

Evening Star, Issue 24324, 13 October 1942, Page 3

GERMAN AIR POWER

SIGNS OF WEAKENING LUFTWAFFE STILL VERY FORMIDABLE (llcc. 8 a.m.) „ ~ L , io NEW YORK, October 12. There is evidence ou every front ot German air weakness, asserts the ‘ Herald - Tribune’s ’ correspondent, Major Eliot. German aerial concentrations against Stalingrad have been achieved by draining the other fronts, especially the Mediterranean, the Russian air force is working more effectively than it could if the Germans possessed . strong, well-balanced air power. Moreover, German bombers Interfered little with Timoshenko’s _communication lines. German attacks against Malta have diminished to such an extent that British aircraft _and submarines are again operating from there. United Nations aircraft enjoy complete air mastery in the_ Eastern Mediterranean, attacking Axis supply lines and, bases, even harbours in Greece and Sicily, almost at will. Little is now heard of German long-range bombers over the Atlantic. The remaining Luftwaffe striking force is apparently concentrated in Norway for attacks against Russian convoys. German fighter squadrons are inadequate to cope with the rising scale of American daylight raids and R.A.F. night bombings. “ One is almost tempted to ask where is the Luftwaffe?” he said, “ but we should be indulging in the most dangerous wishful thinking if we supposed that German air power was permanently impaired. The_ truth probably is that the Luftwaffe is only temporarily inactive. A part is being held as a mobile reserve force against the possibility of an Anglo-American attack on the long exposed western coastline. Another part is likely to be engaged in training and refitting with new; types of aircraft, such as the high-level boniber intended for use against Britain during the winter. The indications are that German air strategy under compulsion of events is _ now changing from concentrated offensive to active offensive, which in only offensives of a limited objective will he possible.”