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War Day by Day

(By Our Special Observer.)

Comment on the News Importance of Berlin Main Transport Centre

Anybody with sufficient patience and credulity, to listen extensively to the German broadcasts during this past week would have gathered the impression that Berlin is a city of blocks of flats, residences, hospitals and orphanages. That this is not' so everybody knows, but not everybody is clear as to the part Berlin plays in the industrial life of Germany. There are very good reasons that Berlin is what it is, and the principal of these is that it is where it is. In common with nearly all great centres of population, the capital city of Prussia, and of the German Reich, owes its prominence to its geographical situation. It lies at the focal point of low hills which were once the terminal moraines of glaciers. The rivers Oder, Weser and Elbe run from east to west in the troughs between the hills, and troughs in other directions made the construction of a canal system a simple matter. To this work. begun in 1616, and to the facilities offered by the natural features for road and, later, railway construction, Berlin largely owes its position to-day as the most important city in north central Europe. Berlin Vital Transport Link. Berlin is situated on a flat sandy plain about 110 feet above sea level on both banks of the Spree, which intersects the city from south-east to north-west. The oldest part of Berlin, the city and the Alt Kolln, is built along the arms of the Spree, and together with that portion of the town lying immediately west, is the centre of business activity. The west and south-west are the residential quarters, and the north-west is largely occupied by academies, schools and military institutions. The north is the seat of machinery works, the northeast of the woollen manufacturing industry and the south of the railway works. Thus, the respective residential and industrial areas are fairly well defined. Berlin is the centre of the German network of railways, no less than 12 main lines converging upon it. Allied to the canal system which brings corn and other cereals by water from Poland, Austria and Russia, the vital part played by its capital in the transport system of the Reich will be appreciated. , With such industries as wool, silk, iron, steel, cloth and by-products manufactured from such basic essentials it is obvious that the 4,024,000 Berliners do not live , entirely by taking in each other's washing and tending the sick and orphaned. Burma Road Problem Again. Just two months ago the United States slammed the door on one of two prime essentials lacking in Japan's war potential. The embargo then imposed upon high octane aviation petrol is now followed by a stoppage of supplies of iron and steel scrap. Somewhat naively the cable report states that President Roosevelt's ban on iron and steel scrap is obviously aimed at Japan. That this assumption is reasonable enough is ap* parent from the fact that previously 85 per cent. of America's scrap iron and steel has gone to Japan. Another interesting item from the United States concerning the land of the Rising Sun is that the Export and Import Bank has been authorised to make further credits to China. ' Although Japan told the United States that the closing of the Burma Road by British- Japanese agreement was none of her business, the turn of events in IndoChina has made it very much America's business. The three month's clostire: period ends in October, and it is not unlikely that the talks of the British Ambassador, the Australian Minister and the United States Secretary of State were; concerned quite largely with this stormcentre looming in the quite near future.. More Defiants Wanted. Lord Beaverbrook's statements bring a happy tang of the common salt of journalism into official edicts. By their simplicity they lose nothing in forcefulness. As a good journaiist should Lord Beaverbrook tells his story early in the piece. The gist of his latest request to the aircraft industry of Britain is contained in its first eentence: "I ask you to give uS more Defiants." The Minister's elaboration in support of his request draws attention to a type of British aircraft over which there has hung a shroud of mystery. At Dunkifk the Boulton Paul Defiant proved a surprise packet for the Germans, and was conspicuously successful. Then for some reason it was little heard of. There were reports that it was not living up to its initial blooding in battle. Now it has been brought again into the limelight by the Minister for Aircraft Production. Reading between the lines of Lord Beaverbrook's message to the factories, one would imagine that Defiant production to-day is suffering from the defect that held up British aircraft output in 1939. This was a tendency for types to spend too much time on the dravving boards due to tinkering to attain as near perfection as possible. Dreaming designers and draughtsmen produced few planes, but what they did produce were the best. In cases where their skill and patient experiment has born prolifib fruit, notably in Hurricanes, Spitfires and Blenheims, superiority over their rilshproduced German prototypes has been written in letters large enough for the world to read.

To Combat Night Raiders. The Boulton-Paul Defiant is something' ' of a hush-hush machine. What is known is that it is a twin-seater fighter with an amazing departure in high speed, low weight aircraft in the form of a poweroperated gun turret, which enables a gun — some say cannon — to be moved easily, notwithstanding the terrific pressure of the air-stream against it. A theory has been held in some quarters that the single-seater fighter with its concentrated fire in front of the pilot is the most suitable type for the air battles of to-day. With Nazi bombers flying at around 250 miles an hour, and Spitfires and Huri-icanes approaching, in a dive, 500 miles an hour, it is obvious that the duration of the longest burst of effective fire can be but a matter of a second or two. The fighter pilot has, therefore, to think and act quickly, and it has been thought that he can be most effective when his line of flight and his line of fire are one. as is the case with the single-seater fighters. However. it is obvious from Lord Beaverbrook's request for more Defiants that the two-seater fighter has a part to play. It is known that the burning need of the moment in fighter aircraft is to find something to combat the night raiders. For this purpose the tcchnical search is directed towards finding a highspeed fighter which can carry enough petrol to enable it to maintain a reasonably lengthy patrol on a beat. The Defiant. from its sizc, and the fact that it carries two men, can hardly be the desired machine, but it may bs intended as g stc$>-£3p mtii Him' ideal type is evolved.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19400928.2.43

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 28 September 1940, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,166

War Day by Day Taranaki Daily News, 28 September 1940, Page 6

War Day by Day Taranaki Daily News, 28 September 1940, Page 6

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