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Bomb Back?

IT WAS only to be expected that the indiscriminate bombing of London would give rise to a popular demand for action of the same kind against Berlin and other centres of population in Germany. How strong this demand has become, it is impossible to say. To an extent it has been met by recent raids on military objectives inside the German capital, but these raids have not been sustained and at present almost the full strength of Britain’s bombers is being directed against the enemy’s invasion bases on the Dutch, Belgian and French coasts. That the Secretary of State for Air (Sir Archibald Sinclair) has again found it necessary to justify this strategy suggests that not all Englishmen are converted to the Government’s view. No one will blame them for that: if Britain had as large a force of bombers as the enemy, and as convenient bases, there would be no reason why the people of Berlin should not be made to suffer what Londoners are suffering today. But Britain has not enough bombers to attack civilian, as well as military, objectives in enemy territory. When rearmament began in earnest, Germany’s numerical' superiority in bombers was such that Britain had to establish an adequate fighter force for home defence before she could turn with confidence to the strengthening of the Bomber Command for a final, crushing offensive. Thus for the present the objectives of her bombing raids are limited by the number of planes at her disposal. If she were to bomb Berlin she would have to divert part of the force which is now being used with such deadly effect to smash the Channel ports and to disorganize factories and communications in western Germany, .

Obviously it is of greater importance for‘the British people that the invasion should be paralysed, or weakened, than that Berlin should suffer a few 'civilian casualties and some losses of property. If the Royal Air Force were to employ a large number of planes on the indiscriminate bombing of cities no one would be better pleased than Hitler, for he would then be .free to organize, with a minimum of interference, what may be the vital campaign of the war. Britain’s bomber squadrons are by no means small, and they are being increased as rapidly as the factories can build planes and the Empire can produce trained airmen. But they have to cover a vast field of widely-spaced objectives extending from Norway to Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, northern France and Italy. Their bases are placed at such a distance from many of these objectives that their attacks cannot be carried on for more than an hour or two during the night. Even so, the R.A.F. raids are daily becoming more numerous and more intense. They are disorganizing the enemy’s plans and preparing the way for the greater aerial offensives of the future. Berlin can wait.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19400920.2.29

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Southland Times, Issue 24236, 20 September 1940, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
482

Bomb Back? Southland Times, Issue 24236, 20 September 1940, Page 4

Bomb Back? Southland Times, Issue 24236, 20 September 1940, Page 4

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