NO SIGN OF PLAN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 September 1940, Page 9

NO SIGN OF PLAN

IN NAZI AIR ATTACKS ON BRITAIN ABSENCE OF MILITARY RESULTS. “BALANCE SHEET” STRUCK BY “TIMES.” (British Official Wireless.)' RUGBY, September 28. Recalling that London lias now been subjected nightly to enemy raids for three weeks, “The Times” strikes a “balance-sheet,” and states: “ With every night that passes it becomes more difficult to

find any plan at all in the enemy’s operations. Broadly speaking, the bombing has been more indiscriminate, wanton and unaimed. “There has been considerable material damage and civilian casualties, though fewer than had been expected from an air offensive of this kind. The

homes of numbers of people from the King to the humblest commoner have been damaged or destroyed and shops, both large and small, have been wrecked; but the enemy has not yet succeeded in stopping a single one of the services and activities that are necessary to the life of a great city. Everything 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.” Stating that the Nazis seem to imagine that their 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 the essential distinctions between me circumstances and conditions in those countries and Britain, and it continues: “Though there is so little for the enemy on the credit side, much must go down on the debit side. “In the first place, his devotion to night raids is an admission of his failure in day attacks, and of the success of the night attacks by the Royal Air Force. The R.A.F. has technical reason for these attacks—namely, the distance of the objectives in Germany from our bases, which prevents our bombers from being escorted by fighters, and the Germans have not this reason.

“In the second place, even their 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 the British people and their friends in other lands should be included'in accounts as the very reverse of the terrorisation that Hitler hoped to effect. “While we are awaiting a fuller answer to the German night bomber, we can add one final item. As Mr Churchill said, ‘He badly needs an early decision,’ and the progress of the British Commonwealth’s air training plan in Canada shows that Germany’s only hope is a swift victory in the air.”