GERMAN LIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 July 1940, Page 5

GERMAN LIES

ATTEMPT TO CONCEAL AIR LOSSES BOLSTERING UP NERVES' OF PILOTS. SHATTERING EXPERIENCE AT DOVER. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.13 a.m.) RUGBY, July 30. Commenting on a German High Command communique statement that only three of the raiding aeroplanes were brought down in the Dover raid yesterday, while twelve Spitfires and three Hurricanes were shot down, authoritative quarters say it is becoming increasingly clear that Germany’s exaggerated air claims are intended to bolster up, not only civilian morale, but also that of German pilots. The speedy loss of seventeen out of about eighty machines within half an hour must have dealt a serious blow to the nerve of the German pilots engaged in yesterday’s raid on Dover, during which only one British machine was lost. This is borne out by a recent revelation, by a captured enemy airman, that German pilots have demanded the provision of Red Cross planes, to pick them up if they are shot down. As announced by the British Government, these Red Cross planes do not confine themselves to the legitimate work of rescue, which in fact is unnecessary because this is already being performed adequately by the R.A.F., working in conjunction with both the Navy and any merchant ships in the vicinity. MORE ENEMY LOSSES TWO BOMBERS & FIGHTER. ON DAY OF RESTRICTED ACTIVITY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.3 a.m.) RUGBY, July 30. An Air Ministry communique states: “Full reports of yesterday's encounters round our coasts show that a total of 21 enemy aircraft was destroyed. Two of our fighter pilots are missing. “Today, although enemy activity has been restricted, two enemy bombers and one enemy fighter have so fai been destroyed.”