Evening star., 1943-05-25
Allied War Outlook
Briuhtens as Axis
Air Power Wanes
Air Squudrons Reported
To Have Vanished From
ItoIy's Islands
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, MAY 25.-The deteri-
Grafton of Axis air power and civil
ian defenses under the pressure Of
Allied air might, combined with high
expectations for the outcome of tie
Roosevelt Churchill conference in
Washington to brighten the summer
war picture today for the United
Nations
The unremitting air raids on S2r-
dinia, which the North African h+r
Forces again pursued yesterd =,
was reported by the Rome radio -
have caused city districts prorc"'
of the islands capital of Cagliari 70
be abandoned.
From many towns in Italy's tee
and the Mediterranean islands ref
ugees were reported streaming north
to escape Allied bombardment dis
patch from Zurich to Reuters said.
Although the German radio re-
ported yesterday that Nazi troops
had been sent to reinforce the de-
fenses of Sardinia, Allied pilots said
Axis air sQuadrons had vanished
from the Italian outpost islands
Sunday
Dortmund Fires Still Burning.
In Germany, the official Nazl
party newspaper Voelkischer Beo-
bachter declared there was not one
person in the heavily -raided Ruhr
cities who had not suffered personal
property or family loss as the re-
suit of air attacks.
Air observers in London. assessing
the results of the heaviest air raid
of all time on Dortmund Sunday
night. suggested the RAF strategy
was designed to pile up cumulative
i'll effects of the bombing on the
strategic Ruhr area.
Having wrecked EsSen's war
plants-including the sprawling
Krupp works-the RAF was report
ed by air correspondents to have
turned heavy attention to Dortmund
because it absorbed much of Essen's
former production load.
The raid. which for the first time
was claimed to have beaten down
the powerful Ruhr defenses, also
cities in the path of one of the
floods created the week before by
/ cracking two of Germanys great
/ water reservoirs, the Eder and the
Moehne
! One mldafternoon report today
from the Morocco radio said fires
still were raging in Dortmund and
. - ct,
of water caused by the dam BURST
ings.
The Daily Mail said there lis good
reason to believe that the e-feht-
ing organization of Dortmund had
depended for its water largely on
the preached dams"
City Caught Unprepared
Other observers Speculated that
thousands Of the Ruhr's civilian de-
tenders still were engaged in food
relief work when the bombers struck
again. Some pilots reported seeing
wet patches still in Dortmund.
| London papers reported from the
continent that the first bombs fell
on Dortmund before an alert was
sounded. Some air correspondents
in London said the raiders employed
deceptive tactics of dispensing
widely and then reforming to
pounce on Dortmund. Thus they
caught the defenders unaware.
This raid was regarded in London
as a direct response to Prime Min
lister Churchills suggestion Of an
experiment to bomb the Axis out
Of the war. The Dortmund raid
thus may be expected to be only
forerunner of many more of equal
destructivenesS
Meanwhile there was an air Of
keen anticipation in London over
the further outcome of the Roose-
Churchill talks Reports from
Washington produced black head
lines variously heralding heavy
British and American attacks on
Europe possible meeting of Pre-
mier Stain. Mr.. Roosevelt and
Prime Minister Churchill an often
sive against Japan by the end of
the year and a demand for Italys
surrender.