Evening star., 1940-08-03
The RoyuI Air Force

nS Noyui All TOISS
1t is more than two weeks since
Hitler proclaimed the destruction of
Britain and her world empire unless
Churchill and his people were ready
for peace on German terms. Yet the
threatened blitzkrieg to bring the
British to their knees has not been
launched. Nazi submarine and air
raids on shipping, ports and inland
objectives continue on an intensive
scale, for the supposed purpose Of
"softening" Britain for invasion, but
major operations to this end remain
conspicuous by their postponement.
What appears partly to explain
the German high commands delay
is discernible in the restless activities
Of the Royal Air Force. If London
official claims are factual, British
bombers are infiicting widespread,
constant and devastating damage in
Germany. In the course of attacks
on more than one hundred towns
and cities British flyers are said to
have laid the great port of Hamburg
entirely in ruins" smashed up the
docks and airplane factories of Bre-
men and severely injured the Reich's
communications central headquar-
ters at Cologne. These various oper-
ations are described as having
covered the period of the last three
months. They are said to represent
a continuous series of attacks of
genuine weight and Importance" on
more than one thousand objectives.
Such successes are complete and
satisfying answer to critics in Brit
ain and elsewhere, who labor under
the impression that all the effective
fighting in the air is being done by
the StukaS, the Messerschmidts and
other swastika-bearing dealers of
death and destruction from the sky.
According to the British COM
munique, the Royal Air Force often
sive has ranged far and wide over
enemy territory, from the extreme
northwest German coast in the
North Sea to occupied territory in
France, such as this weeks raid on
the Cherbourg Airport. In all cases
Britain's bombers have sought out
points from which the enemy derives
vital sinews of war or is preparing
to launch offensive operations, such
as munition factories, oil refineries,
airdromes, naval bases, power plants
and the like.
'Irreparable damage" was inflicted
at key industrial seats like Essen,
home of the mighty Krupp works;
Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Wesel and
Dortmund. Strategic links in the
important German canal system
have been repeatedly struck and
seriously harmed. Kiel and Will
helmshaven, Germany's principal
naval bases, have been favorite
Royal Air Force targets. Virtually
all of the nerve centers of the Nazi
war machine have come. day in and
day out, within the range of British
bombs.
Assuming these reports to be we'll
founded, it is easy to understand
why the long advertised "annihila-
tion of Britain" is being held up.
They indicate, with convincing cir
cumstantiality, that the intrepid
pilots and bombers of the Royal Air
Force are giving the Germans full
and incessant dose of their own
medicine.
The Nazis' numerical superiority
aloft is unquestionable and may for
some time be irreducible, though
British domestic production is stead
lily increasing. But it is evident that
in dash, daring, skill and effective
ness, Goering's air force has met its
match. Proof is at hand that
Britain's conquest, If Hitler hopes
to accomplish 1t by air, will be no
simple achievement.