GERMANY AND ITALY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21207, 2 September 1940, Page 8

GERMANY AND ITALY

MR CHURCHILL’S MESSAGE TRIBUTE TO AIRMEN (Official -wireless) (Received Sept. 2, 3.15 p.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 1 The Prime Minister, Mr Winston Churchill, has sent the following message to the Commander-in-Chief of the Bomber Command:— “ The War Cabinet has asked me to congratulate the bomber squadrons who have been engaged in the recent long-distance attacks on military objectives in Germany and Italy. The fact that on the occasion of the first operations in the Belgium area last Sunday week a great majority of the pilots brought their bombs home rather than loose them under weather conditions which made it difficult to hit the precise military objectives prescribed in their orders shows the high standard, poise and selfrestraint preserved by the Royal Air Force in the performance of their dangerous duties. “ This is in marked contrast to the wanton cruelty exhibited by the German fliers who, for example, have vented their spite upon the defenceless watering place and town of Ramsgate, in which nearly 1000 dwellings and shops, mostly of modest character, have been wrecked. “ It is very satisfactory that so many tons of British bombs have been discharged with such precision in difficult conditions and at such great distances, and that so many important military objectives in Germany and Italy have been so sharply smitten.

“ All this is another sign and proof that the command of the air is being gradually, painfully, but none the leffs remorselessly wrested from the Nazi criminals, who hoped by this means to terrorise and dominate European civilisation.”