BRITANNIA'S JAVELIN

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXV, Issue 254, 28 October 1942, Page 5

BRITANNIA'S JAVELIN

WIDE INFLUENCE OF RAIDS POLICY DOMINATED BY TWO FACTORS.

B.O.W.

RUGBY, Oct. 27.

The Minister, Sir Archibald Sinclair, to-day described the Bomber Command of the R.A.F. as a javelin which Britannia had added to the sword and trident in her armoury. He said that continually improving rnethods of search, combined with hard flying in all weathers, had shown a striking increase in the number of U-boats sighted and attacked, thus aiding the Navy to draw the blockade tighter round Germany and bring our own supplies from overseas. Our successes had forced the enemy to send long-range fighters into the Bay of Biscay, where the Coastal Command was hurting him most, but this availed the Germans nothing. In the last month 12 enemy aircraft had been destroyed in the Bay of Biscay, and a new high record for attacks on U-boats was reached — 45 per cent. above the best in any previous month. The Minister said it was 18 .months since Hitler attacked Britain in foree by night, and another sustained blitz on the 1940-41 scale was unlikely. The Germans wuold meet a very hot reception if they came over in foree. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that their machines, bombs and technique • had improved as ours had done, and there must be no complacency. Our preparations for the winter nights were continuing. The R.A.F.'s own bombing policy this year has been dominated by two themes — helping the Navy in the Eattle of the Atlantic, and helping Russia. The Russians well knew the value of our bomber policy, which along with Fighter sweeps had forced the Germans to bring to the Western Front nearly as many fighters as they had on the whole of the Eastern Front. The Soviet economist, Varga, recently drew attention to the serious transport difficulties hampering the German offensives at Stalingrad and Mosdok, and paid a tribute to the R.A.F. for aggravating those difficulties by attacks on the German transport system in the west. FELT IN RUSSIA. "It is not surprising," said the Minister, "that the weight of our bomber offensive is already felt as far afield as Stalingrad and Mosdok, for in spite of all the diversions we have been obliged to make, its weight is growing and will grow faster still in the future. In the first 14 days of September we dropped 5000 tons of bombs in nine raids." The Germans themselves had given up trying to conceal the damage. An officer of the Luftwaffe, broadcasting from Berlin, had said: "The damage the enemy is doing in Germany cannot be denied. It is extraordinary and extremely great. We must admit this fact." The Minister pointed out, however, that in considering the achievements of Bomber Command, it must be remembered that its foree was yet so limited in size that only by an exceptional feat of organisation which could be rarely repeated could 1000 bombers be put into the air at once. It was not true that the Government held out an early prospect of frequent four-figure raids. The most that had been said was that in a few months they would become less infrequent. That was true, but we did not have unlimited numbers of bombers. We wanted many more, and the sooner we got them the sooner Hitler would be defeated. Sir Archibald pointed out that the Americans, too, were now joining in. They had much to learn and much to teach. Their bombing had been astonishingly accurate, and thej would bring a mighty and shattering reinforcement to our bombing offensive against Germany.