INFERIOR FIGHTING

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21228, 26 September 1940, Page 7

INFERIOR FIGHTING

BATTLES IN THE AIR BRITAIN’S SUPERIORITY (United Press Asn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 24 The German tactics in the great air battle, in which the whole might of the Luftwaffe has been thrown against the British fighter force, are designed with the object of providing compensations for their relatively inferior fighting equipment. For this reason the German mass formations—chiefly fighters, probably accompanied by a few bombers—approach England at a great height in the hope that contact with Royal Air Force fighters will be made when the British machines are at a lower level, and. therefore at a disadvantage. That technique has been adequately dealt with by the British Fighter Command, as shown by the great reduction in German day bombing during the past few days. Climbing inland toward the Thames, the British fighters attain the requisite height and turn back to bring the enemy to action. The result of these tactics is that many air battles take place over Kent. Some of the more forward aerodromes are not used, as it would be impossible for aircraft starting from them to reach the height, which is frequently as great as 30,000 ft, at which the enemy come in. These forward aerodromes have not, however, been in any way given up. The fighter aerodromes which have been attacked by the enemy are in full use. Neither the strength nor the fighting efficiency of the British fighter force is any less since the German attack opened on August 8, and the Royal Air Force awaits the result of the battle with full confidence. Nazis’ Changed Tone A new note has been detected in the German communiques, which for the first time on Friday admitted that their aeroplane losses were greater than the British. Friday’s communique stated that only one British machine had been brought down, whereas three German aeroplanes failed to return. Again on Monda3' the communique admitted the loss of one machine while stating that no British machine had been shot down. It would appear that the German propagandists are becoming anxious about the lack of credence given even at home to their figures, and have taken the opportunity afforded by the lull in operations, when losses on either side are insignificant, to try in a small way to restore their damaged reputation for veracity. A further motive for this sudden access of modesty, it is suggested here, may be a belated recollection of Hitler’s own precepts in “Mein Kampf”: “It was a fundamental mistake to ridicule the worth of the enemy. Once the German soldier came to realise what a tough enemy he had to fight, he felt he had been deceived by the manufacturers of the information given him, and he therefore lost heart.” Goebbels’ Mistake Goebbels has been making precisely the same mistake. Sneers at the London defences, denials of the true figures of German losses and boasts of England’s occupation by Germany stimulated the German people on the initial effort, but that phase is past, and as the falsity of earlier claims is revealed by the continued absence of a German victory, the danger for the German morale cannot apparently be neglected.