FINALLY UPSET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 September 1941, Page 6

FINALLY UPSET

THE MYTH OF GERMAN INVINCIBILITY SIR A. SINCLAIR’S SURVEY OF AIR WAR. PROSPECTS FOR COMING WINTER (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, September 3. “Germany’s invincibility, which paralysed more than half the world, is now finally broken.” This opinion was expressed by the Air Minister, Sir Archibald Sinclair, in a fighting speech. “The R.A.F.,” said Sir Archibald, “had been proud to play its part.” In the van of the Battle of the Atlantic, in the outcome of which Sir Archibald Sinclair expressed confidence, was the Coastal Command, which last year attacked 136 U-boats, shot down over 30 aircraft and scared a great many more off convoys. The Minister declared: “We are now turning the tables upon the Germans and their shipping it getting a double dose of the medicine Hitler prescribed for ourselves, and in July we damaged or destroyed 92 Axis ships in the North Sea, the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, amounting to 468,000 tons and in addition 52 ships of unknown tonnage.” Sir A. Sinclair added: “Our Fighter Command has suffered severe losses, but has gained the mastery of daylight attacks on Britain. When the Germans broke off the night bombing in May, in order to concentrate against Russia, their casualties amounted to over 10 per cent of the attacking forces. The morale of their bomber crews was flagging under the strain. During this coming winter we must expect the German attacks to be renewed. We must gird ourselves to endure, if not too sustained attacks, certainly attacks' of greater intensity than any yet suffered. The German bomber crews, on the other hand, will find we have not been wasting our time since May. They will pay dearly for the destruction of British homes next winter and the German people will pay more dearly stall. The rate of our attack is constantly increasing. In the first three weeks of August, more than three times as many tons of bombs were dropped by the Bomber Command as in the corresponding three weeks of • 1940. There was a splendid attack on Berlin last night. Our bombers got through and hit the city hard. There can be no doubt that the Germans are fully aware that, in Mr Churchill’s words: ’This is only a beginning.’ ”

Sir A. Sinclair concluded: “Our admiration for . Russia is unbounded, but Russia will not win the war for us. Our gratitude to the United States is unbounded, but the United States won’t win the war. Our chief danger is a tendency to relax our efforts when our prospects are good, and to think somebody else will make an effort and win the war. Complacency is our greatest danger. For victory, we must rely on ourselves.”