Evening star., 1942-06-04
:1,500,00o Germans
lmmobi|ized by Raj
Mass Raids on Cities
Nuzis' Transportation
Reported Near Crisis as
Result Of Bombines
By BLAIR ROLLES,

ilc Ibh1 eau OlcllolNc OpcTd~
tons, which already have brought
devastation to Cologne, Essen, Lu-
beck and Rostock. are keeping l.
100000 Germans fully occupied in
defense work who might otherwise
be engaged in offensive and pro-
duction operations and are also
bringing Germany near q transpor-
tation crisis.
These reports on some effects of
the laundering raids by the British
against the heart of the Nazis' home
grounds reached here today through
official channels and gave American
and Allied authorities new reasons
for iuoilation.
The report stated also that Ger
many's air task now Is so great that
Hitler can keep only 1000 'front.'
line"-the very best-planes in Rus
sia. The rest of the Nazi's 5000
frcnt-line planes are defending Ger
many from the Raj, watching the
United States -Murmansk supply
line and stationed in Sicily and
Libya for Mediterranean action.
Naxis Lose Big Advantage.
Anti-aircraft gun and Searchlight
crews in Germany and in occupied
countries along the path of the
Raj to Germany absorb GOO, 1000
men. 1t is estimated on the basis
of intelligence reports reaching
British military authorities. OBJ
server crops use another 10000
men, anti-aircraft communications,
$4,000: night fighter flyers and
ground stats, 10000; supply, equip
ment and administrative staffs,
10000.
Add to those 715,OO0 another
300 900 Germans who are full-time
air-raid wardens and demolition
SQUAD members, as well as 10000
factory workers who spend part OF
the time they should be at their
machines in the business OF defend
ing the plants from the worst effects
of air raids. Thus the beginning
of the Allied air offensive has taken
from Germany one of the great
ADVANTAGES of the offensive opera
tion-the ability to use every avail
able man in the business OF crush
ing the enemy.
A searchlight crew consists OF
about IS men, and Germany and
the occupied territories are rib
boned with searchlight belts. The
one along the Dutch-German bor-
der. over which the Cologne and
Essen bound Raj planes presum-
ably few, is 200 miles long, varying
in depth from to 20 miles. The
searchlights that make up those
belts are arranged in groups OF from
10 to 30 lights each, the group being
miles apart.
There were 100 searchlights at
Cologne before the great raid, and
each other big city has its belt
of searchlights and ack-ack. Bremen
is guarded by 500 anti-aircraft guns.
It takes from II to rs men to man
one of these. depending on its size.
Transportation Upset.
Constant RAF penetration OF the
defenses represented by these ack-
ack batteries and searchlight groups
has so upset German transportation
that the movement of coal to Italy
is estimated at half its former ef-
ficiency. The Germans keep 27,000
cars and TOO locomotives assigned
to the task of hauling coal to Italy
whose war industries can Ill func-
ton without this import.
Much of the coal moves through
the Cologne region, whose rail lines
were left twisted and severed by the
great raid. AS the war has grown
longer, the Germans, who two years
ago had a policy OF using trucks
for internal transport, have had to
rely more and more on rails because
they lack the gasoline needed for
the truck hauling.
The beginning of the heavy air
offensive has brought general Ger
man nightly blackout west of the
line between Lubbock and Leipzig,
and that again slows down trans
portation. The Nazis last week fired
Wilhelm Kleinmann, state secretary
of the Reich ministry of transport
and deputy director general OF the
Reich railways, because OF the dis
satisfaction in exalted circles OF
Berlin with the transport situation.
Figures suggesting the devasta-
tion caused German territory by the
Raj, even before the super-raid on
Cologne, reached here today in
memorandum from the Air Ministry
saying that the total tonnage OF
bombs dropped by the bomber COM
mand in January, February and
March this year was $50 per cent
greater than in January, February
and March last year.
Some idea of what must have
happened to Cologne is limited at by
the fact that in a raid OF much
lesser scale against Lubbock, on the
night of March 1919, the RAJ
closed that vital Baltic port by drop
ping $40 tons Of bombs. and then
kept it closed until April l8 with