NAZI AIR TACTICS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 February 1941, Page 5

NAZI AIR TACTICS

(REASONS FOR RECENT LULL ■ I d OPINIONS IN BRITAIN ! BAD WEATHER A FACTOR. SOME ALARMIST STORIES I DISCOUNTED. ißrltidi Official Wlrelw.t RUGBY. January 30. The anti-aircraft guns and German bombs which London hoard last night broke the nine-dny lull of aftef-dark enemy activity. British bombers, which, though not forced to be idle quite so long .have been loss active recently, also carried out operations last night over north-west Germany. The weather all over northern Europe has been exceptionally bad since the be- >• ginning of the year, restricting the - operations of both sides. ■> Probably the weather has been less favourable to the Luftwaffe than to ■' the Royal .Air Force. The Germans i have been hampered tor some time by -.a heavy snowfall and the subsequent S' thaw has resulted in waterlogged aero- ■ ; dromes and the usual widespread fog - j which the Low Countries experience f j in such circumstances. - ■ 'The absence of night bombers over - Britain is thought by competent ob- ' * servers to be due to these circum- ■; stances, and reports that the lull was | caused by the time taken to concen- ! trate some 18.000 aircraft to form an | invasion armada are discredited as I alarmist, together with equally unJ authenticated reports of Germany’s j 70.000 aircraft, half of which are j fighters. j Competent observers point out that j ewen if concentration is being made. I and there is no evidence that it is. ! cessation of night bombing would not j only be unnecessary but would definitely be bad tactics. Regarding the reported existence of 35,000 fighters, it is pointed out that if Germany now has this number at j her disposal a considerable jjrojxirtion j of them must have been in commission < six months ago. in which event it is | past explanation why they were Mot j used ag 'tins’, the RAF over Dunkirk J and tn the subsequent opening phases ; of the air war over Britain. i While there is no delusion as to the , strength of the Luftwaffe arid of the ; weight of the attacks which may be i expected as soon as the weather improves, i'. thought that dissemination ■( of these much-exaggerated figures is •i merely part of the continuous propas- g.md.t pressure which Germany feels ! must be exerted somehow