AUSTERITY REPORTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 October 1942, Page 3

AUSTERITY REPORTS

INSISTED ON BY BRITISH AIR MINISTRY

DEMAND FOR COLD FACTS.

MORE ENEMY THREATS AGAINST AIRMEN.

(By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON. October 21.

Austerity is being introduced into all official announcements about the R.A.F., as a result of stringent instructions from the Air Ministry, says the aeronautical correspondent of the “Daily Mail.” Superlatives are banned from descriptions of R.A.F. exploits. Cold, bare facts are demanded. Estimates of the damage done by R.A.F. raids must be couched in the most general and conservative terms. Specific claims are to be withheld till photographically' corroborated. Recent communiques devoted no more than 50 colourless words to bombing operations involving hundreds of planes, 1000 airmen, and sometimes the devastation of large areas of enemy property. The Berlin radio announced that the High Command was contemplating more severe measures against all prisoners accused of employing “gangster methods,” including airmen who intentionally attack civilian objectives and civilians.

A New York message states that Tokio official radio continues to broadcast threats of severe punishment against United States airmen alleged to have been taken prisoner after the raid on Japanese territory. The spokesman, Mr Hori, said that the pilots seized had already been sentenced by a Japanese military court, but the sentence might not be carried out immediately. He denied that the action was a reprisal, and claimed that the threatened punishments were only for the future in order to protect the Japanese civilian population against enemy terrorism.

The Associatd Press of America says these statements suggest the Japanese fear of more raids, and are an effort to discourage them. One Tokio broadcast said that future raiders would be tried for their lives.