THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, September 26, 1940. BOMBERS AND TARGETS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24413, 26 September 1940, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, September 26, 1940. BOMBERS AND TARGETS

It may confidently be believed that the demand which is being made of the British Government for reprisal bombings expresses the opinion of the majority of English-speaking people. It is not in human nature to retain charitable feelings towards a country the war machine of which is spreading destruction and death over countryside and city, without the least pretence of an attempt to confine the attack to legitimate objectives. Government statements and Government spokesmen in Great Britain have, however, consistently laid stress upon the comparatively negligible results from the purely military point of view that can be obtained by blind bombing. The R.A.F. has, on the facts presented since the war began, hampered the war effort of the Reich considerably more by attacking objectives that come within the definition of military targets than it would have done if an equivalent weight of high explosives had been dropped on the homes of the German people. The case for concentrating on the most crippling form of attack was strongly stated by the Secretary for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair, a few days ago, when he pointed out that in a mere “slogging match” Germany, with the advantages she possesses in numerical strength of aircraft and the relatively short distance her planes have to fly, would “ be bound eventually to win.” This is an extreme statement. Yet it is clear that, apart from the moral issue upon which the judgment of the world will be delivered when this war is over, there is much to be said in the military sense for selective rather than bi’oadcast bombing of the enemy country. This week’s prolonged R.A.F. raid over Berlin, which lasted for four hours and, on the evidence of neutral observers, caused serious damage in industrial areas, constitutes a sternly effective reply to the German bombings of London. It is impossible for aircraft flying at a great height to restrict the damage entirely to specific targets. In such raids the civilian population cannot remain wholly unscathed. The people of Germany can be in no doubt as to the capacity of the R.A.F. to strike at them when and where it pleases. They have had a rude awakening. They were spared the humiliation and terror of invasion in the war of 1914-18, and they were assured by their leaders that it would be impossible in this war for British airmen to break through their defences and penetrate to the heart of Germany. Their experience of this war will have opened their eyes. And the result of the British reply to the ruthless and wanton Luftwaffe bombings must be of immeasurable military value. It still remains for the Goyernment, the Daily Mail has suggested, to determine more exactly than appears to have been decided just what constitutes a military objective. In terms of total war it is obvious that a too great scrupulousness cannot be exercised in the selection of targets, when any sort of obstruction of the commercial and industrial life of an enemy may be of military advantage. The principle that seems most important in air warfare is that all effort should be directed to attacks which will most surely embarrass the enemy. There is every reason for believing thht the British Government and its military and air advisers can be relied upon to adhere faithfully to that principle. Whether reprisals for civilian bombings are desirable is a matter for authority rather than the public to decide.