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AIR POWER OF NAZIS

POSSIBLE RAIDS ON_U.S. (Rec. 7 p.m.) NEW YORK, October 19. Germany will resume concentrated bombings of air bases in England, redouble her attacks on American shipping and directly bombard American industrial centres, predicts Colonel Hugh J. Knerr, retired Chief of the United States Army Air Corps, in an article in The American Mercury. “The Germans at present have planes capable of raiding America any time they choose and have been testing bombers with a 40,000 feet altitude equipped with automatic pilots and improved bombsights, ’ states Colonel Knerr. “I think the Germans will come from Norway, via the Arctic, and strike at the industrial region between Sault St. Marie and Niagara, perhaps as far south as Pittsburgh. The present German air strength is barely holding its own because they froze their models early in the war, but soon the new series of Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs will give her the finest fighting team in the world. To oppose it we have the Spitfire, which equals the Messerschmitt in the aircooled class, and the Republic P 47. It remains to be seen if the P 47 is as good as the Focke-Wulf. “I do not think we will knock out the German Air Force before the spring, but it is possible the United Nations will have mastery of the air over’Europe before the spring. The threat to this is our own Navy, which is attempting to divide Flying Fortress production and divert hundreds of these planes to the Pacific naval bases under battleship admirals, who have no business with land-based bombers because they do not know how to use them.” Colonel Knerr said: “To gain European air supremacy by the spring may mean stripping the Pacific defences to the bone. We should confine operations in the Australia-New Zealand sector to a minimum, but proceed to build up Alaska as the primary base for future operations against the Japanese.”

LE CREUSOT RAID IPLAN TO SMASH NAZI ■COMMUNICATIONS LONDON, October 19. The destruction of the great Schneider arms works at Le Creusot is greeted by the British newspapers as a very remarkable operation which promises yet greater developments. “Every detail,” says The Daily Telegraph, “encourages the hope that—contrary to the theory so far generally accepted as a result of experience in the Battle of Britain—it may be possible to devise a successful technique for heavy daylight attacks on targets in Germany. Thus, weather permitting, the Allies may be able to keep up continuous bombing of the enemy day and night.” The Daily Telegraph also notes the contrast in losses with the August raid while The Daily Express says: “Its eight-ton bomb load has made the Lancaster the backbone of the big night raids and its speed and fire-power make it as terrible a menace in daylight as in the dark.” The News-Chronicle points out that the raids on Lille and Le Creusot were partly inspired by the same tactical idea—dislocation of Germany’s internal communications. It says “The Lille works and the Schneider factories both manufacture locomotives, though the Schneider works also produce heavy armaments on a large scale. There are very few concerns which turn out locomotives in big numbers and the damage done in these two raids will have a serious effect throughout the Reich. That is why the Allies are putting all they know into smashing communications. The bombing of engineering works, of railway centres and of marshalling yards and the shooting up of locomotives in northern France are all aspects of a single co-ordinated plan. It is already yielding good dividends. When Germany is called on to fight on two or more fronts its full value will for the first time be clearly revealed.” NEW ZEALANDERS INJRAID UNEVENTFUL JOURNEY (Special Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, October 19. New Zealand pilots were in five out of the six first Lancasters to bomb Le Creusot armament works in the 94bomber raid last week. New Zealand navigators, bomb-aimers and air-gun-ners also took part. They included Pilot Officer R. O. Calvert, D.F.C. (Waikato), D. H. Palmer (Wellington), A. R. Loader (Taihape), R. W. Stewart (Whakatane), Flight-Sergeants V. S. Moore, D.F.M. (Taumarunui), and | H. W. Player (Petone), and Sergeants P. L. Singer (Gisborne) and A. W. Singer (Gisborne), who are twins, J. L. Williams (Gisborne), R. Cosgrove (Auckland), J. W. Collbert (Te Puia Springs), D. V. Davies (Ratihi), J. B. Price (Grey Lynn), R. Menzies (Hastings) and R. B. Pickford (Rata). All agreed that the raid was a “piece of cake.” “We met only slight “flak” over the target, but it stopped after the first two ’bombers had released their bombs,” Flight-Sergeant Player said. “We had no exciting incident in the whole trip. We prepared for the takeoff shortly after mid-day and soon picked up the other sections. Then we swept out over the coast, flying almost wing-tip to wing-tip. The weather was perfect. The only bad spot was over the sea, when we flew at nought feet. We hedge-hopped over most of France, climbed when nearing the target and my heart sank when we sighted a thick cloud bank, as I thought it might upset the whole operation, but luckily it cleared. I have never seen buildings disappear like they did when our bombs fell. They collapsed like a pack of cards. It was better than any earthquake. We saw little signs of life over France. Only a few people were working in the fields. A ploughman threw himself flat when he heard the roar of the engines. Others outside the village waved and gave the V sign.” Sergeant Menzies said: “The worst part of the trip was waiting for something which did not happen. It seemed impossible that the Germans would let us get away scot-free.” Flight-Sergeant Moore, who recently spent 36 hours at sea in a dinghy when he was forced down after a raid against Bremen, said: “Le Creusot was the best show I have had. Jerry was conspicuous by his absence.” Commenting on the New Zealanders’ part a group captain said: “They are a credit to the Dominion, also to the men who trained them. We always look to the New Zealanders as the backbone of our bomber crews. They are grand chaps.”

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19421021.2.49

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Southland Times, Issue 24880, 21 October 1942, Page 5

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,036

AIR POWER OF NAZIS Southland Times, Issue 24880, 21 October 1942, Page 5

AIR POWER OF NAZIS Southland Times, Issue 24880, 21 October 1942, Page 5

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