THE LATEST PHASE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21219, 16 September 1940, Page 8

THE LATEST PHASE

BATTLE OF BRITAIN *, MORALE NOT AFFECTED INDISCRIMINATE BOMBING (Official Wireless) (Received Sept. 16. 3.15 p.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 15 Both in the press and among the general public the latest phase in the Battle for Britain—the savage attack on the people of London—is the subject of much speculation, both as to its purpose and the reason it has been adopted by the German authorities. A number of conclusions is generally reached: (1) The new tactics of scattering bombs indiscriminately over the metropolis, which no one can imagine to be an important target in a purely military sense, is taken to be a confession of failure on the part of the Luftwaffe to do substantial damage to the main centres of Britain’s war production, to be a confession that attacks which have been attempted on Britain’s military targets have been too costly, and that the German Air Force is beginning to feel the strain of such heavy losses. (2) That having lamentably failed to inflict serious damage to Britain’s war machine Germany has now turned the force of her attack against what she hopes will prove Britain’s weakest point—namely, civilian morale. At the same time, London is the centre of communications, the centre of political life, and representative of a nation in a way which is true of the capital of no other country. By destroying London the Nazis might well hope that the rest of the country would be paralysed and the way for invasion rendered easy. But the morale of London has so far been untouched and everywhere the opinion is confidently expressed that it will require bombing on a scale vastly more widespread and more intense, before the nerve of Londoners can be crushed, on a scale which the London defences will never permit the Nazis to achieve without inflicting terrible losses. Many different weapons have been brought to the defence of London against the constant night raiders. There are night-flying fighters, of which informed correspondents suggest a superior new type is already in production. The aircraft guns are capable of putting up a formidable barrage of fire and steel, and there are searchlights and barrage balloons of an improved type which already have claimed one victim. Famous Buildings Damaged Damage to London has certainly been done and much suffering has been caused. Many of her prominent buildings which form the chief target for Nazi bombs have been damaged. These include some dozen famous old churches, St. Paul’s Churchyard, the House of Lords, Buckingham Palace (three times hit), the Law Courts, Somerset House, three of the largest hospitals and a number of smaller ones, and two newspaper offices. Some 2000 of her civilian population have been killed and many more injured or rendered homeless. Yet the general life of the capital proceeds uninterrupted and the capacity of the people to adapt themselves to the new mode of life is astonishing.’

Confidence is widespread in the power of Britain to defeat this last as she has defeated former methods of Nazi attacks.