MAIN ENEMY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 March 1942, Page 3

MAIN ENEMY

NEED OF TAKING GERMANY BY THROAT BRITISH AIR MINISTER’S DECLARATION. WINTER BOMBING LIMITED BY WEATHER. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, February 28. Speaking .at Bristol today, the Air Minister, Sir Archibald Sinclair, disclosed that at the beginning of the war Germany’s air strength was four times the British. “When the Germans established themselves in air and sea bases less than 100 miles from London, the world thought the downfall of Britain was at hand,” he said. “Yet we managed to keep our factories working and supplies pouring into the country. We built up and re-equipped our forces.” After referring to the Battle of Britain and to events in North Africa and the Pacific, Sir Archibald Sinclair said Germany was still the most formidable of our enemies, and added: “Our one force which can and will strike hard blows this year at the very heart of Germany is the R.A.F.. All through the great battles in Russia the R.A.F. had kept half the German fighter squadrons facing west. That was a greater contribution than the supplies we sent them to the success of the Russian armies in their battle against Germany. “This winter we had hoped to hit Germany hard, but our airmen were confronted by an even more formidable enemy than the Germans, and that was the weather. For weeks a thick canopy of ice-laden cloud hung over north-western Europe, and for weeks on end fog covered our aerodromes at home. “Only in one year during the past 15 has the weather been so unfavourable for night bombing. “We must take Germany by the throat and shake the strength out of her. We must start not in 1944 or 1943, but in 1942. The United Nations have two instruments at their disposal for hammering Germany in 1942 the Red Army and the Royal Air Force.” BOMBING OF TOWNS NO LONGER FAVOURED BY NAZIS. ACCORDING TO BERLIN CORRESPONDENT. LONDON, February 27. The Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm “Tidningen” quotes military experts as saying: “No British air raids on German towns, even against Berlin, will entice us in future to act similarly against London and British towns. Germany gave up the attempt to concentrate on England long ago. The bombing of towns produces no decisive results. It is a waste o time, of men, and of planes, which can be used for other purposes, for instance, against shipping.” ______