SOBER REPORTS ABOUT R.A.F.

Southland Times, Issue 24882, 23 October 1942, Page 5

SOBER REPORTS ABOUT R.A.F.

Superlatives Banned (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, October 21. Austerity is being introduced m an official announcements about the Koya Air Force as the result of stringent instructions from the Air Ministry, says The Daily Mail’s aeronautical correspondent. Superlatives have been banned from descriptions of Royal Air Force exploits and cold bare facts are demanded. . Estimates of damage done by Royal Air Force raids must be couched in tne most general and conservative terms. Specific claims are to be withheld until photographically corroborated. Recent communiques have devoted no more than 50 colourless words to bombing operations involving hundreds of planes and thousands of airmen and sometimes the devastation of large areas of enemy property. , Berlin radio announced that the High Command is contemplating more severe measures against all prisoners accused of employing “gangster methods,’ including airmen who intentionally attack civilian objectives and civilians. A New York message states that the Tokyo official radio continues to broadcast threats of severe punishment against United States airmen alleged to have been taken prisoners after the raid on Japanese territory. The spokesman, Mr Tomokazu Hori, said the pilots seized had already been sentenced by a Japanese military court, but the sentence might not be carried out immediately. Mr Hori denied . that the action was a reprisal and claimed that the Japanese had threatened punishment only for the future in order to protect the Japanese civilian population against enemy terrorism. The Associated Press of America says these statements suggest that the Japanese fear more raids. In an effort to discourage them one Tokyo broadcast said future raiders would be tried for their lives.