Evening star., 1941-01-09
BY EDWIN E. HARTRICH.

NEW YORK, Jan. 8 CNAN.A0-
British bombs on Berlin have come
as a great psychological shock to the
German home front. The r. A. F.
raids, as they continued week after
week, have inflicted serious damage
to the German morale-though ac-
complishing little in the way Of mill
tary destruction.
For the first time since the be-
wildering successes Of the blitzkrieg,
the German people have become un-
easy about the future. The bonn
bastic threats and reports of the
easy successes Of the German air
force over Britain have not been
able to distract the attention OF the
civilian population from the grim
prospect that they also can be
bombed any night by the R. A. F.
The No. / objective of the British
in their raids on Berlin seems to
have been the propaganda OF DR..
Joseph Goebbels. In this they have
succeeded in causing many Ger
mans to doubt whether Hitler's army
and air force can successfully In
wade England. The average Ger
man is attempting to strike a bal
ance between the propaganda re-
ports that England is about to topple
and the evenings he spends in an
AFRAID shelter while British bomb
ers roar on over the Nazi capital.
Fly at Low Altitude.
The British planes have been able
to fly to Berlin seemingly without
hindrance. Unlike the German
bombers over London, the Bristol
Blenheims and wellington bombers
have flown over Berlin at low alti-
tudes, sometimes within 1000 feet
of the ground. The inability OF
Herman Goerings numerous anti
aircraft batteries to shoot down the
enemy raiders also has come as a
great surprise to the Berliners.
At the start Of the war they were
told repeatedly that come what
may, no enemy plane will be able
to penetrate the wall of fire that
will protect Berlin" The immediate
effect of the raids on Berlin has
been to discredit, in the mind Of
the average Berliner. this repeated
promise of Reichsmarshal Goering
The British raids have not fol-
lowed any pattern. The timing and
duration of the raids have never been
the same. The raiding planes have
been concentrating on the north
and south industrial suburbs OF the
German capital. However, in their
visits to Berlin, they have flown
repeatedly, and at low attitudes, over
Hitler's chancellery, Goerings Air
Ministry and Ribbentrops Foreign
ONCE. In the period from August
Is to October 81 only four British
planes were shot down over Berlin
itself. OF this total, I have per-
sonally seen two British planes hit
in midair by anti-aircraft shells.
Inspection Tours Cancelled.
Foreign correspondents have not
been given the opportunity to see
the damage done by the R. A. F.,
except in those areas where nom
military damage was inflicted. Late
in September, the Propaganda Min
istry Cancelled its inspection tours,
previously organized for the foreign
press after each raid.
The effect on civilian morale
throughout the Third Reich caused
by the British air raids on Berlin
became evident in September. Many
Berliners with friends or relatives
living in the country received let
ters urging them to vacate the Nazi
capital. The stories of the raids
spread far and wide. The German
high command was forced to issue
special communique on the heels
of each British visit to Berlin.
British raids on other important
centers in Germany have been more
damaging from a military stand
point. The shipyards and subma-
rine bases at Bremen and Hamburg
have been singled out for particu-
larly heavy punishment by the
Royal Air Force. The English
planes also have been concentrating
on key railroads and functions
throughout the Rhineland in an ef-
fort to disrupt the flow of war ma
terial to the Channel coast bases of
the German Army.
However, information as to the
amount of damage done to the in