STRIKING POWER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1942, Page 4

STRIKING POWER

IN BRITAIN & MIDDLE EAST LIMITS SET BY FACTOR OF TRANSPORT. THE SERVICING DEMANDS OF AIRCRAFT. (Special P.A. Correspondent.) LONDON, July 7. Answering criticism that Britain should have sent bomber strength to Africa instead of frittering it away in a futile attempt to destroy the German war machine from the air, the “Daily Telegraph” says, “The argument is based on the assumption that the bombing of Cologne or of Benghazi represent alternative uses of our available resources, and that all that is needed to switch 500 bombers from Cologne to Benghazi is a decision in Whitehall.

“Nothing could be further from the fact. To raise the bomber strength in North Africa by 500 planes is not all just, a matter of flying 500 machines from an English aerodrome to a desert landing ground with orders to carry on. It is a matter of shipping vast servicing and repair apparatus round the Cape. The real alternative is not between holding bomber forces in these islands or sending them abroad, but between the amount of shipping space allocated to the- air arm and the other arms. If we would have more aircraft in Libya,' then we must have fewer tanks and guns. “The correct balance between the different arms is a matter of nice calculation. There is not the smallest evidence that the policy of bombing Germany has in any way influenced the proportions between the various arms sent to the Near East. If morb aircraft were sent to Libya at the expense of tanks and guns the same wiseacres who are now complaining that aircraft are not sent would be vociferously inquiring why so many tanks and guns are lying idle on Salisbury Plain when they ought to be annihilating Rommel.” Shipping has also affected Britain’s ability to send soldiers overseas. There is undoubtedly a large number of soldiers in Britain, yet all troops have been sent overseas for whom the shipping is available, while with the demands for a second front Britain obviously must retain soldiers for that purpose.