CRITICAL TIME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24399, 10 September 1940, Page 7

CRITICAL TIME

RACE AGAINST WEATHER HITLER'S BIG GAMBLE MORE INTENSE ATTACKS THE WORST TO COME LONDON, Sept. 8. (Received Sept. 10, at 1 a.m.) A high-placed authority told the Associated Press that the present "reprisal' attacks ,on London appear to be a diversion from the German main purpose, namely, an endeavour to cause Britain to use up her fighters, thereby paving the way for. unlimited bombing attacks- as a prelude to invasion The German bombing appears to be limited by the fighter strength available for escort, for which reason, if the necessity to send heavy fighter escorts is reduced, Germany will be able greatly to. increase the number of bombers. If this hypothesis is correct it explains why, during Saturday's attacks against London, when nearly 700 German planes were estimated to have visited Britain, activity outside the capital was comparatively slight. In this endeavour to subjugate the British fighter strength Germany counted on ' suffering considerable, losses: but did not expect to. face such stubborn resistance, which well-informed circles believe will be more stubborn as the month proceeds. : It is pointed out that September will likely be a very critical month in which Hitler, engaging in a race against the English weather, hopes to gain air superiority in a week or so. Air operations are in a crescendo, but the top. note has not yet been reached.

queries why. formations of bombers from seven to nine are able to.reach central London, a high-placed official stressed that it was not possible for fighters to prevent a proportion from penetrating the defences. • German night bombing thus far has been largely indiscriminate,, though apparently they are endeavouring to copy British attacks against rail communications. Civilian Morale Unshaken The Times, in: a leader, says: " Many of Saturday's casualties were caused, by attacks falling on men of the services.. The enemy attempted a crushing ] blow to reassure Germans and strengthen the world's rapidly-waning estimate of his power and fatally injure England. V The raid, however, has not impaired the R.A.F.'s. strength, it. has not seriously damaged : the national war effort, and emphatically it did not shake the civilian morale, which was a large part of. the enemy's purpose. The verdict of the victims was that the experience was a mere incident in the process o? winning mastery over a ruthless enemy." AGONISING SCENES BOMB STRIKES SHELTER CHILDREN AMONG VICTIMS THREE IN ONE, FAMILY LONDON, Sept. 9. A bomb caused agonising scenes when it struck an East London shelter in which 1000 people were taking refuge, including many mothers and babies. At least 14 were killed and 50 seriously injured. The bomb, by a million to one chance, fell directly down the ventilator shaft. It was " the only vulnerable place in the powerfully-protecied shelter. Mothers were killed outright and babies swept from their perambulators.' The roof support pillars were torn down, and the occupants lay stunned in heaps. ' Members of the Civil Defence Corps laboured fearlessly among the debris. Nine doctors answered calls and saved lives by improvising tourniquets and dressing wounds by the dim glow of torches Three children of one family were killed The parents escaped. The shelter to-day presented a tragic picture. Perambulators and corrugated iron sheeting lay entangled, also heaps of bed clothing, pillows, blackened gas masks, toys, and remains o f meals