LONDONERS NOT PERTURBED

Southland Times, Issue 24232, 16 September 1940, Page 6

LONDONERS NOT PERTURBED

GERMAN CAMPAIGN OF TERROR

FAILURE TO DISABLE FIGHTER COMMAND

ESSENTIAL PRELIMINARY TO INVASION

(British Official Wireless)

(Received September 15, 6.30 p.m.) RUGBY, September 14.

Mr Churchill’s broadcast on Wednesday, in which he showed how seriously he regards the chances of an early attempt at invasion and with what measured confidence he feels the nation may face the prospect, has given a direction to public discussion on the next phase of the war. Those who for some time have been expecting that events must soon move towards some kind of climax find corroboration in Mr Churchill’s rallying call, while those who argued that a pause was inevitable after the obvious failure of the Luftwaffe’s attempt to obtain air

mastery over Britain are more ready than formerly to concede that they may not have given sufficient weight to Hitler’s desperate need of an early decision. In particular those who tended to the latter view are obviously shaken by the new tactics of the wanton bombing of London.

Leaving entirely on one side the legitimacy of the objectives selected for attacks, where these can be distinguished from the entirely indiscriminate unloading of bombs over the heads of a large civilian population, they are of such minor importance from the point of view of directly damaging the British military strength that these tactics can only be explained on the

assumption that Hitler is hazarding all on a chance of creating demoralization in the rear while he tries to circumvent Britain’s defences at the coasts. The most competent authorities therefore present the air war on London’s churches, houses, offices and schools, on men, women and children from the poorest in the East End to the richest in Mayfair, from the humblest to the King and Queen, as an admission of weakness. POSSIBLE MISCALCULATION It is interesting to note that the almost unanimous verdict of observers in the United States is that this form of attack represents one of those major and disastrous miscalculations to which the German exponents of power politics always seem liable. Writers in the Press and those in political and diplomatic circles who are watching for the decisive hour have not failed to note considerable concentration in recent days of the Royal Air Force’s bombing raids against the enemy’s invasion bases and communications. Given a moon approaching full and high tides about dawn, the significance of these heavy Royal Air Force attacks are felt to be considerable; but while they are regarded as evidence of alertness on the British side against invasion, they are also seen to be reducing its likelihood.

Comment in the technical and military Press in Soviet Russia and the United States gives ground for the deduction that reports received from neutral experts in London have left no doubt as to the failure of the German effort to disable the Fighter Command —itself, as all commentators agree, an almost essential preliminary to invasion with any chance of success. Now that the Bomber and Coastal Commands have made a further contribution to the frustration of the German High Command’s plans, it may be hazarded that the German chances of successfully invading Britain are very low. Some commentators, including the leader writer of The Manchester Guardian, seem to suspect that an estimate of Germany’s chances may not be very high in Rome, and that this may account for the delay in launching a diversion in the Middle East.