ALLIED WAR STRENGTH

Southland Times, Issue 24824, 17 August 1942, Page 5

ALLIED WAR STRENGTH

EARLY ATTACKS PREDICTED (Rec. 10 p.m.) SYDNEY, Aug. 17. “The Allies should soon be able to attack ‘the heart and head’ of the enemy,” D l ® Australian envoy to Britain and the United States, Sir Earle Page, on his return here. “There is no thought in England or America that the war can be lost. I always believed it would take about four years for the Allies to get into their stride, he continued, “but the situation is now becoming very different. Increased Allied production is a revelation. Britain is now launching ships within 30 days of the keel being laid, and they are ready for service eight days afterwards.

“We are undoubtedly beating the submarine menace in the Western Atlantic. The co-operation of sea and air forces is sweeping the seas of submarines and in time this will be true of the Eastern Atlantic.” Britain had already opened a second front by massed bomber raids on Germany. Ships, planes and tanks were being destroyed before they could be used against the Russians. The land front would come, but to open one prematurely would invite disaster. “The British people thoroughly understand the position in Australia, said Sir Earle Page. “When our plight looked desperate they even pulled the guns out of their emplacements to send them to us.” Commenting on the Solomon Islands battle he said that effective action against the Japanese bow would be three times as valuable as action next year. Sir Earle Page has resigned his post as special envoy on account of ill—health. GROWING AIR POWER “The time is not very far distant when British and American bomber squadrons in England will be able to destroy the industry and power of Germany at a rate which will outstrip repair. When that time comes will the average German long resist the conclusion that war is no longer profitable and that the Fuhrer is no logger worth following?” asks Sir Charles Portal, chief of the British Air Staff m an article in a special Royal Air Force issue of the Chicago magazine, Flying and Popular Aviation. t Sir Charles Portal, in a review of some of the problems which faced him and his predecessors, stresses the tact that we began the war with a numerical inferiority of one to four against the Luftwaffe and only now had we reached numerical parity with the Germans. Our air resources had never approached our requirements, and in view of that we could not be strong everywhere. All we could do at first was to ensure that we were strorig at essential points, and this could only be achieved at the expense of weakness elsewhere. As a result we met many grave reverses, which had given rise to severe criticism of the Royal Air Force. “I am glad to say, however, that the situation is now quickly improving,” he says, adding that the time was rapidly approaching when the United Nations would have decisive air superiority over the Axis in all parts of the world. Referring to the Royal Air Force bomber offensive Sir Charles Portal says, “What has been achieved in the past is as nothing compared with what is now beginning to be achieved, and what with the help of the American bomber force destined for this country will soon be achieved.”

BERLIN PREPARES Himmler in his capacity as chief of the A.R.P. services is intensively preparing Berlin for heavy raids, says the correspondent of The Times on the German frontier. Himmler’s S.S. guards are displacing Berlin civil police from A.R.P. work and are also displacing wardens of blocks. and even concierges of individual houses. Antiair raid towers are being erected and the whole system of anti-aircraft gun nests is being changed, thus making obsolete the Royal Air Force’s information.

Wooden barracks are being built on vacant land near Berlin so that those bombed out of their homes can be quickly accommodated. Royal Air Force raids are estimated to have rendered 1,000,000 Germans homeless. NAZI RAIDS ON SHIPPING Information now available shows that the success of enemy air attacks on our coastwise shipping during the first six months of this year was less than for any previous similar period of the war, and was achieved at greater cost to the enemy. Credit for this is largely due to the constant vigilance of Fighter Command patrols and the ever growing skill and experience of gun crews on ships and their escort vessels. Actual figures of shipping attacks may not be given, but they show a comparatively poor return for the Luftwaffe’s own loss of 24 shipping raiders destroyed and 38 more severely damaged. Moreover by March enemy reconnaissance planes, which used to fly up and down the convoy lanes had been forced to keep 100 miles out to sea with only an occasional attempt at a sneak reconnaissance under ample cloud cover. FLOW OF U.S. PLANES “American Army planes are flowing to Britain in great numbers,” said Lieutenant-General Arnold, at a Press conference in Washington. “Full-scale participation in Royal Air Force raids on Germany is just a question of getting planes over to England and of time to build 'up American strength.” Lieutenant-General Arnold revealed that 34 Negro pilots had completed training and that 73 others were engaged in training for the Army’s first All-Negro Air Squadron. The squadron was an experiment. When training was completed the Army would decide whether to create additional Negro squadrons.

Lieutenant-General Arnold revealed that since December 7 last United States planes had shot down 190 planes in combat for the loss of 104, These figures did not include the American Volunteer Group in China, which was disbanded on July 4. Until then the group had shot down 218 Japanese planes for the loss of 84. The figures covered only verified losses on both sides and did not include planes destroyed on the ground.