Evening star., 1941-01-08
By TAYLOR HENRY,

BY TAYLOR HENRY,
Associated Press War Correspondent.
NEW YORK, Jan. 8.-While Ger
man night bombers in four months
of blitz against England have laid
waste some cities and blasted and
burned huge hunks out of others,
British officials claim that damage
to the islands essential war indus
try so far has been surprisingly
small.
Naturally. the extent Of damage to
military objectives In individual
raids is a closely guarded secret.
That is the reason official COM
muniques constantly refer to the
destruction of homes, churches and
shops" and never mention that fac
tories, railroads or bridges have suf-
fered as well.
But the average of estimates I
gathered from a large number of
observers places damage to all war
industry in the country at less than
5 per cent while damage to the
aviation industry has been no more
than 10 per cent.
Just before I returned to New
York from England as the old year
ended, I made a weeks intensive
survey of the damage Nazi explo-
sive and fire bombs had done to war
industry.
Without official sponsorship, I
went where I wanted to and saw
what I wanted to. I visited fac
tory after factory and talked to
officials and workmen in every city
that had been blitzed: Coventry
Southampton. Bristol, Birmingham,
Liverpool, Manchester and dozens
of smaller industrial centers in the
Midlands.
I found many factories that had
been destroyed or damaged suffi-
ciently to stop production. but I
found almost 10 times as many that
had not yet been hit.
And to your wartime Englishman
all that matters is to keep up war
production.
Coventry, Southampton Hard Hit.
Two days before I left England I
talked with high official who has
charge of tabulating damage to what
are officially termed key points
essential industry and communica-
ton.
ITO US it is a question of brutal
realism he said.
Naturally it's hard if your wife or
children are killed by bombs, if the
business your family has worked
generations to build has been de-
stroyed overnight. But as far as the
war is concerned, to use one OF your
favorite American expressions, so
what!
Our factories are still turning out
the arms with which to smash back
at Germany, and our communication
networks are still transporting
them"
Apart from London the two hard
est hit cities in England have been
Coventry and Southampton. There
the damage is almost unbelievably
bad. After the war is over it will
take three to five years to rebuild
them.
In Bristol there are districts so
badly hit they make Coventry look
like thriving city. In Birmingham
whole sections, including part of its
central business district, have been
knocked into hollow shells of build
ings.
Liverpool, on the other hand, has
had it comparatively easy, while
Manchester has come to be known
as the city the blitz forgot" Even
the clocks are still running in Liver
pool and Manchester.
In London, except for the east
end, damage when I left was still
spotty. The great fire raid on the
city" business district has happened
since.
But, even at that time, it was al
most impossible to 90 more than
200 yards in any direction without
seeing spectacular evidence Of bomb
destruction.
Much Of London Open Space.
However, approximately nine
tenths of greater London is open
space-parks, rivers, lakes and
streets A large percentage of bombs
dropped from high attitudes, even
when carefully aimed, necessarily
must explode harmlessly in these
open areas.
Damage to cities, in addition to
the estimated 5 per cent more or
less permanent physical damage to
industrial plants, nevertheless has
had the effect Of slowing up produc-
ton.
Workers homes have been de-
stroyed; suburban bus and railroad
lines to factory areas have been put
out Of action temporarily, and local
food supplies have been destroyed.
If man can't get his three square
meals day, if his means of getting
to and from work has been knocked
out. if he has no home to go back
to for a nights sleep, his work suf-
fers.
In one city, only three bombs were
dropped in the suburb where an i'm
portant airplane factory is located,
The nearest was half mile from
the factory. Yet because Of disrup-
ton of transportation that factory
was forced to work on half shifts
for three days.
In another city, the central section
was so badly blasted that work in
the surrounding industrial area
itself not even touched by the blitz
was stopped for four days.
But British officials declare that
three days for one factory or four
days for another when taken in
the light Of 1865 days year for all
of England's far-flung industries is
scarcely pinprick.
There are apparently two reasons
why bomb damage has been less
than one might expect:
/. The way British industry has
been scattered throughout the island
over wide areas.
2. The basic diflculty of q flight
bomber flying at $4,000 or $4,000
I