AHEAD OF LOSSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 June 1943, Page 3

AHEAD OF LOSSES

MAGNIFICENT EFFORT BV BRITISH WORKERS IN ADDING TO BOMBER STRENGTH. PRAISED BY AIR CHIEF MARSHAL HARRIS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, June 29. Britain’s aircraft workers, totalling hundreds of thousands of men and women, are reacting to the Battle of the Ruhr by raising production to new heights, says the aviation writer of the “Daily Express.” it is the story of the Battle for Britain retold, except that the workers are now stimulated to produce additional four-engined bombers, whereas the sudden increase in 1940 was in fighters. One group of bomber factories after the R.A.F. opened the Ruhr campaign 15 weeks ago increased production more than 30 per cent. Other groups, reporting the best figures since the factories were built, have increased their output 12 to 30 per cent. These figures are most astonishing because the factories have taken on colossal extra work in maintenance and the repair of damaged bombers. They are rebuilding unserviceable machines and returning them to the Bomber Command in days, where the jobs previously took weeks.

The men and women workers in many of the factories arc keeping a nightly record of the Ruhr battle. Air Chief Marshal Harris, of the Bomber Command, who is directing the battle, appealed to the aircraft workers before he started the great operation. “I rely on you for additional bombers,” he stated. “My crews are waiting for them. They are trained and are ready to take off for Germany and Italy the moment they get the bombers from the factories. The magnificent bombers you have sent us have already hit the enemy so hard that we know we are on the road to victory. We can get the Axis cracking till it is bust wide open.” Air Chief Marshal Harris again wrote to the factory employees a few weeks after the Battle of the Ruhr had been in progress. “We have long learned to' take it for granted that you will keep us mounted on the finest aircraft in the world. Each new type is not only better than the last, but also a jump ahead of the enemy’s. Let ‘more and better’ remain your motto, and we will write it in the German sky for all Nazidom to read.” The correspondent adds that the battle has so far cost the R.A.F. 532 bombers, but the aircraft workers’ magnificent response has provided the Bomber Command with even more planes. So the expansion goes on, and if the Battle of the Ruhr continues for six months, the R.A.F. can make each succeeding action more deadly.

RUHR BOMBING GREAT AREA DEVASTATED AT BOCHUM. 700 BUILDINGS DESTROYED OR BADLY DAMAGED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, June 28. The devastation caused in the Ruhr by the Bomber Command’s recent attacks has set the interpretation experts a tremendous task. Photographs of Bochum taken after the attack on the night of June 12 have now been interpreted in detail. The damage is now known to be even more serious than appeared after the first inspection of photographs. One hundred and thirty acres, containing mostly buildings used for administrative purposes, have been devastated, and nine industrial establishments in other parts of Bochum were affected. Seven hundreds buildings have been destroyed oi’ seriously damaged. Also large new military barracks have been most severely dam-aged—-the upper stories totally destroyed —over- an area of 14,000 square yards.