Evening star., 1940-03-29
Bombing Not So Bad
Is Lesson British Can
Learn FROM Finland
People Can 'Toke IT,
When They Have To,
II They Will Re|ox
BY w. L. WHITE.

COPENHAGEN.- in not
so very many weeks the Nazi
bombers are scheduled to cut loose
and really give England the works.
Now, I have only recently come from
Finland, a country about the same
area and general shape as England
that is, it was before the peace treaty
forced upon her by Russia-and
during my stay in Finland I was
bombed a great deal, and I am in
position to tell you something
about this subject.
The British are very fond of as
suring each other that they are a
bulldog race, with lots of endurance
and staying power and dogged
| courage, but for the purposes of
this argument let's whittle them
down to size and assume tat, aside
from the adjectives they use in
praise of themselves. they are
probably pretty much like anybody
else; namely, that they run when
they are scared and holler when they
are hurt, and on this conservative,
debated inventory valuation of their
noble qualities of heart and soul,
let us see how they will make out
when the fun really starts.
Saw 500 Bombers a Day.
The Nazis have what all hands
agree is the biggest air force in the
world and much of it is also the
best. They estimate that they can
send a thousand bombers a day
over England.
Now this sounds like a lot, and
no doubt you are justified in shaking
IN your shoes at the thought of it,
and no doubt the English are
justified in whetting up their courage
and bracing themselves at the pros
pect, Only it happens that was
IN Finland at period when the
Russians were sending over 500
bombers a day. The Russians do
not have the best air force in the
world but it is certainly we'll up in
the grade B class-their bombs land
with just as loud pop and blow
you just as high as any bombs in the
world, and none of the people who
received any of this merchandise
from the air have made any COM
plant as to its quality.
do not claim that being in a
country which is receiving the
delicate attentions of 500 bombers
day is any fun, but during all
that period life somehow went on
and the trains ran, and meals got
eaten, and a number of girls got
kissed, and even if you doubled the
dose OF bombers, bringing it up to the
amount which the English will have
to take from the Germans, it still
would be endurable, over even a long
period of time.
Finland Kept Going.
Finland, before the peace treaty,
was about the size of England. but
1t is a lot easier to hit from the
adjacent Russian air bases than
England will be even if the Germans
occupy Holland and operate from
there. because there is still the North
Sea to cross, coming and going.
Now. am much sorrier for the
Firms than the tone of this piece
might indicate, and yet you should
remember that in spite of these 500
bombers per day, plus the necessity
OF fighting of an invading army.
the economic and industrial life of
Finland. right up to the end of the
war, kept ticking like a bright little
dollar Yankee watch.
So, in view of all this, the English,
when the fun really starts, won't
have to be nearly as bull-dogged and
stolcal and dauntlessly brave as
their newspapers, which 1 have been
reading of late, keep insisting that
they are. If they will just relax and
not attempt to be any braver than
the Firms were. that should be
plenty brave enough. 1t wasn't lack
OF courage that whipped the Firms.