INTREPID AIRMEN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 248, 17 September 1940, Page 7

INTREPID AIRMEN

ENEMY VANQUISHED MR CHURCHILL’S PRAISE. (United Press Association —Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 10 aim.) RUGBY, Sept. 16. The Prime Minister (Mr Churchill) has sent a message to the R.A.F. Fighter Command on yesterday’s great triumph. “Yesterday eclipsed all previous records of the Fighter Command,” says the Premier. “Aided by a squadron of their Czech and Polish comrades, and using only a small proportion of their total strength and under cloud conditions of some difficulty, they cut to rags and tatters three separate waves of murderous assault upon .the civil population of their native land, inflicting certain loss of 125 bombers and 50 fighters upon the enemy, to say nothing of ‘probables’ and damaged planes, while themselves sustaining only the loss of 12 pilots and 25 machines. “These results exceed all expectations and give just and sober cc'hb dence in the approaching struggle, declares Mr Churchill. AIR MINISTER’S MESSAGE. The Air Minister (Sir Archibald Sinclair) has passed the following message to the Coastal Command. “I have been asked by the War Cabinet to convey to all squadrons of the Coastal Command their admiration ot the skill and courage with which they have carried out the arduous but often unspectacular tasks allotted to them, and of the enterprise and success with which in recent days they have struck at the. harbour, shipping, and coastal defences of the enemy. SMALL R.A.F. LOSSES. LESS THAN ANTICIPATED. (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 11.40 a.in.) RUGBY, Sept- 16. It can authoritatively be stated that the losses sustained by the 11.A.F. bombers in the intensive night raids upon vital military objectives in Germany and German-occupied have been at much lower rates than those responsible for the long-term planning of the British air operations thought it prudent to allow for. The rate for the whole of the first year of the war is considerably below what had been anticipated, but even in the last few months, while blow after blow has been struck at the Germhn oil resources and vital communications, and latterly at the invasion bases across the Channel, the rate of loss has still been much below that for which provision was originally made. ALARMS IN 3ERLIN. BAN ON INSPECTIONS. LONDON, Sept. 16. A message from Berlin states that a raid alarm sounded from 11.28 to 11.57 p.m. It was claimed that the raiders were driven back. A second alarm after midnight lasted for half-an-liour. The Times publishes a report from Berlin stating that foreign correspondents have been informed that tours of inspection of the bombed areas have ceased. Any correspondent attempting without authority to visit these areas or sending out reports differing from the official accounts will be instantly expelled from Germany. No correspondent can send out accounts of air raids before the official story is dispatched. The public are also prohibited from visiting the bombed areas.