RAID BALANCE SHEET

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1940, Page 7

RAID BALANCE SHEET

British Official Wireless.

NOT SINGLE NAZI GAIN

Rec. 5.5 p.m. Rugby, Sept. 28. Recalling that London has now been subjected to nightly enemy raids for three weeks, the Times strikes a "balance she'et." "With every night that passes it becornes more difficult to find any plan at all in his operations," says the Times. "Broadly speaking bombing has been .more indiscriminate, wanton and unaimed. There has been considerable material darnage and civili'an casualties, although fewer than expected from an air offensive of this kind. The homes of numbers of people from the King to the huniblest commoner have been damaged or destroyed and shops both large and small wrecked, but ffie enemy has not yet succeeded in stopping a single one of the services and activities necessary to the life of the great city. Everytliing from the delivery of milk to— may we say — the production of a great newspaper goes on, nor have these attacks broken the spirit of any Londoner. The enemy cannot therefore claim one military gain, direct or indirect, from the tactics he has employed." Much on Dcbit Siile.

Stating that the Nazis seem to imagine an air offensive will sooner or later produce the same kind of collapse as in the Low Countries and France the Times proceeds to point out essential oistinctions between tiie circumstances and conditions of those countries and Britain and corftinues: "Though there is so little for the enemy on the ceredit side much must go down on the debit side. In the first place his devotion to1 night raids is an admission of the failure of day attacks and the success of night attacks by the Royal Air Force. The Royal Air Force have a technical reason for these attacks namely the distance of objectives in Germany from our bases prevent our bombers being escorted by fighters. The Germans have not this reason. "In the second place even night raiders do not escape scot free and the price they have to pay will become increasingly heavy. "Thirdly the indignation and determination he has engendered among British people and their friends in other lands should be included in the accounts as the very reverse of the terrorisation Hitler hoped to effect. "While we are awaiting a better answer to the German night bornber we can add one final item. As Mr. Churchill said: 'He badly needs an early decision.' The progress of the British Commonwealth air training plan in Canada shows that Germany's only hope is a swift victory in the air."