AN EFFECTIVE STROKE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 March 1940, Page 4

AN EFFECTIVE STROKE.

JN itself and as an earnest of what is to follow, the British air attack on. the island of Sylt, an important element in the chain of fortified naval ami air bases which Germany has striven to make impregnable, is an impressive answer to those who have lately been demanding, in the House of Commons and elsewhere, that Britain should prosecute the war more vigorously. On the particulars available, a blow has been struck by the Royal Air Force which will appreciably weaken the enemy and undermine his confidence. Specific evidence is given of heavy damage done to enemy air bases and other establishments, and at the stage to which reports have been carried only one British machine has been lost. In contrast with this smashing stroke of war, the German attack on Scapa Flow figures as a puny and ineffective effort. 'German airmen have been active chiefly thus far in attacks on merchant ships and fishing craft, many of them unarmed. In (“very onslaught on legitimate military objectives, as in the Firth of Forth and at Scapa Flow, the enemy air forces have encountered a most discouraging reception. Whatever the future may hold it is clear enough that these lorces have a long way to go before they can hope to rival the dash and the fighting efficiency exhibited by British bombing squadrons in their attacks on German naval ami air strongholds of which the assault on Sylt is the latest and most