EVIDENCE ON EVERY FRONT.

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 242, 14 October 1942, Page 3

EVIDENCE ON EVERY FRONT.

P.A. Cable

NEW YORK, Oct. 12.

"There is evidence on every ' front of German air weakness," asserts the Herald-Tribune's correspondent. Major Eliot. German aerial concemrations against Staiingrad have been achieved by draining cther fronts, especially the Meditefranean zone. Thc Russia n Air Force is working more effectively than it cculd * if the Germaiis posseesed strong, well-balanced air power. Moreover, German bcmbers have interfered little with Marshal Timoshenko's communication lines, "German attacks against Malta have diminihed to such an extent that British aircraft and submarines are again operatmg from there. United Nations' aircraft enioy ccn1plete air mastery in the eastern Mediterranean, attacking Axis supply lines and bases and even harbo'urs in Greece and Sicilv almost at will. "Little is now heard of German long-range bcmbers over the Atlantic. The remaining Luftwaffe stfiking force is apparently concentrated in No-rway for attacks against Russian convoys. "German fighter squadrons are inadequate to cope with the rising scale of American daylight raids aria R.A.F. night bombings. One is almost tempted to ask 'Where is the Luftwaffe?' But we should be indulging in most aangerous wishful thinking if we supposed that German air-power ' is permanently impaired. The truth probably is thftt the Luftwaffe is only temporarily inactive. Part is being held as a mobile reserve force againsi- the possibility of an Anglo-Americari attack on the long, exposed western coastlme. Another part is likely to be cngaged in training and refitting with new types of aircraft, such as high-level bombers intended for use against Britain during the winter. "Indications are that German air strategy, under ihe compulsion of events, is now changing from a concentrated offensive to an active defensive, in which only offensives of a limited objective will be possible."