POLICY OF REPRISALS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 September 1940, Page 5

POLICY OF REPRISALS

FOR INDISCRIMINATE ENEMY BOMBING DEMANDS BY “DAILY MAIL.” GIVING HITLER TOTAL WARFARE. I LOND'ON, September 24. The “Daily Mail,” in a leading article, states: “Letters are pouring in to every newspaper office from angry readers demanding reprisals for the hideous bombing of London’s citizens, aqd everywhere in the bombed areas the same cry is heard. “The demand for reprisals simply cannot be ignored. It is time to bring out the whole subject into the open, and we must again define ‘indiscrimin1 ate bombing’ and ‘military objectives.’ J “Our Government says that the ten ■ millions of people in Greater London r have been subjected to indiscriminate bombing. That is true, but is it the " whole truth? The bombs which have r killed and wounded thousands of civil- “ ians have mostly fallen near docks, bridges, railways, gas and electricity 2 works, telephone exchanges, cross 2 roads, our Sovereign’s home, and ! > Government offices. It could scarcely 2 be otherwise, for big cities’ vital sert vices exist alongside the homes of the " people. Under the German conception t of total warfare no centre of population is exempt from attack, and a city itself is a military objective. Britain is aiming at Germany’s military nerve centre, and Germany 'is aiming at Britain’s civilian nerve centre. We must make up our mind whether Germany is attacking legitimate objectives. Hitler wants total warfare, and we should satisfy him. The German code permits the bombing of London, so we have the right to attack similar ob- ■ jectives in Berlin. To say there will not be reprisals against civilians is to tell Goering, ‘Go ahead: bomb the people of London, and we will not bomb the people of Berlin.’ Must we give an open cheque to murder?” RAIDER’S FATE SHOT DOWN IN FLAMES BY TRAWLER. LONDON, September 24. An armed British trawler drove off a German plane in the English Channel this afternoon, after which the raider plunged into the sea in flames. GERMAN CLAIMS LONDON, September 23. A high German source estimates that since August 10 the Germans have dropped more than 50,000,0001 b of bombs on Britain, destroying or seriously damaging 6000 factories and industrial plants, of which 1400 near the London area. The German authorities claim that . they have strengthed their own defen- . ces, which halted British raiders near j Potsdam. Today's Berlin communique states: “A German motor torpedo-boat sank an armed enemy merchantman and damaged a patrol ship oil the British coast. Reprisals against London were continued yesterday. A U-boat sank four enemy merchantmen totalling 29,000 tons. “British planes last night bombed north Germany, destroying numerous farmhouses. Single enemy planes reached Berlin, but did no damage. No enemy planes were brought down, but one of ours is missing.” BOMB ON HOSPITAL ( TWENTY-SECOND NAZI EFFORT ■■ OF KIND. s — r SINCE BLITZKRIEG BEGAN. r j (■Received This Day 10.25 a.m.) c LONDON, September 24. i n A bomb falling on a hospital in the d south-east was the twenty-second on or! c near such a building since the blitz-' n krieg began.