Evening star., 1940-08-04
The Fighting Fronts


The Fighting Fronts
Except on its eastern fringes, Ger
many was not fighting front in the
World War In the accepted sense Of
the word, Germany is not front today,
but German terrain is an active war
area now as it never was Is to % years
ago. The perfection of the military
plane, the high state of British military
intelligence and the efficiency of the
Royal Air Force have wrought this
change. The result is that the war no
longer resolves itself into simple ques-
ton of whether Hitler will invade and
whether England will succumb to inva-
sion. England is not simply waiting.
England is carrying the war into the
enemy's territory.
The foremost target in Germany is
Essen, the smoking city in Westphalia
where the factories
STRIKE ford founded by the fabu-
At Krupp Plant lous family of Krupp
turn out most of Ger
many's guns and armor. There British
bombs dropped Thursday as they have
dropped often during the last three
months. The markSmen in the sky have
aimed not only at factories, but also at
the railway lines that lead to Essen
from the iron mines and coal fields of
rich Westphalia. How important is Es-
sen to Germany at war is shown by
the fact that while in ordinary times
about 10000 persons work for Krupp,
$4,000 men and women were employed
in the Krupp plants at the World Wars
close
Another target of paramount i'm
portance is Hamburg, the canal-sliced
port on the Elbe River, 70 miles inland
from the North Sea. A British resume
Of three months of bombing operations
against Germany issued Friday indi-
Gated that Hamburg is in ruins. Ham
burg is the first port of Europe, a fact
which is of less importance in these
days of blockade than the fact that
Hamburg Is the site of great storage
tanks of oil, used by the panzerwagons
and the German airplanes, and the
home Of munitions factories. Hamburg
tants in ordinary times. 1t is used to
war. 1t was founded as a fortress more
than 100 years ago by Charlemagne
The British bombers have covered a
wide field Of Germany. They have left
their mark on Borkum in the East
Frisian Islands, in the North Sea at
the Ems Rivers mouth, scarcely 200
miles from England, and on Rugen
Island, in the Baltic Seas far reaches
The naval base of Kiel, in Schleswig,
about so miles north of Hamburg, and
the naval base of Wilhelmshaven, nearer
England and closer to the North Sea,
have been targets of the British attack.
The whole Essen area knows now the
threatening drone of the British air
visitors. In this spreading industrial
area bombs have fallen on Dusseldorf,
Duisburg and Wesel,
British rlones three cities of the Rhine,
Rance Far and on Dortmund, to
the east of Essen. The
planes have dropped their death and
destruction on Leipzig, SIS miles from
London. Bremen's docks and airplane
factories along the Weser River and
Cologne's railroad center on the Rhine
know the men of the R. A. F.
While the British airmen were busy
over Germany the German airmen were
busy over the British Isles. The German
obiectives are ships carrying goods to
England and port facilities in England.
Enemy action might at any time make
sudden changes in our port arrange
ments," Ronald H. Cross, British Minister
of Shipping, told the Empire in broad
cast last week. Berlin reported that
repeated air attacks virtually have par
alyzed England's south and east coast
harbors, seriously impairing the ocean
commerce on which Britains very life
depends. Some of these ports have been
left completely unusable, it was said, and
shipping is being driven to the west coast
of England by the combined action of
the Nazi air and sea forces. Under these
circumstances Germany found it to her
advantage last week to begin heavy air
bombardments of the west coast ports,
principally in Wales.
Germany sees in this situation dark
prospect for England. Germans believe
that the western ports lack facilities to
handle the entire volume of sea trade
necessary to sustain England. Further
more, railway lines running from the
west are expected by Germans quickly
to prove inadequate for transporting
ocean-borne supplies to centers of con-
sumption in the industrial areas in the
east.
Germany pays dear for bombing the
ports. The London Air Ministry an
nounced that during July 24O German
planes were brought down These Ger
man planes go after not
LOSS or ShipS only ports but merchant
Serious Blow vessels supplying Eng
land and English naval
ships assisting in the blockade and con-
voying supply ships. The German claims
on sinking ships is prodigious-1, ,2700 900
tons from June 25 to the end of July.
The British acknowledged up to July 81,