Evening star., 1944-07-14
- .'THE EVENING STAR Washington. :,
4ih Bomb-Free Night
Leads London 10 Hope
Robots Are Checked
BY the Associated Press.

~ANDN<ANs oAAy -ASNAAAVA VA-
perienced its fourth successive
bomb-free night last night, and
while q few bombs fell In the south
ern counties and others ht1rtled over
today, the robot raids appeared
definitely checked-at least during
hours Of darksess.
Although there is no pretense
that the flying bomb problem has
been solved, the daily Allied pound
ing of launching sites and strength
ened fighter patrol along the coast
clearly are having good effect.
The man-in-the e-street In London
frankly expects Hitler to come up
with some new secret weapon
perhaps q rocket bomb Of five tons
or more, capable Of shattering a
skyscraper. But military men
doubt that attacks by such aerial
giants could be sustained for any
length Of time.
Super Launching Platforms.
Concrete structures recently cap
tured near Cherbourg apparently
were intended as launching plat
forms for some sort of super rocket
bomb.
Allied headquarters permitted
open discussion on the potentialities
OF these installations but maintained
official silence on the structures,
which had slightly elevated con-
crete. ramp. TO feet wide and so feet
thick. 700 to 750 feet long.
From the work put into them with
materials that came from Germany
itself, 1t was obvious that the Nazis
planned an important use for the
emplacements.
The Germans now are using make
shift platforms for launching the
flying bombs. From the air the
platforms resemble toy construction
sets. They are not nearly as elab-
crate as the original platforms
knocked out before "D-dsy" under
the weight of $4,000 tons of bombs
dropped on the Pas-de- Calais sector.
Launching Is Problem.
Underground storage chambers at
the old sites are now little more
than crumbled concrete, and lack
of supply dumps may account for
the tapering OF OF attacks on Brit
ain during recent nights.
There Is no indication of the Ger
mans experiencing shortage in these
low-cost 1-ton bombs, but they do
face . headache in bringing them
to the launching grounds, storing
them and affording protection to
ground crews.
Allied air cover is so tight the
bombs can be brought up only dur
ing darkness, and there is no place
to store large numbers without de-
lection.
Since the vengeance" attacks be-
gan a month ago the Germans have
launched more than 5000 bombs,
killing about one person per bomb
In addition thousands have been
bombed out Of their homes and con-
siderable damage has been done to
stores.
23l Children Among Dead.
The Ministry of Home Security
said last night civilian air-raid
casualties in the United Kingdom
last month totaled 1895 killed or
believed killed, 5,906 injured and de-
tanned in hospital.
The dead included 231 children
under Is. Yesterday bomb landed
in a block where children waiting
to be evacuated were lined up to
receive gifts before leaving. At least
II dead were taken from the wreck
age. and an eyewitness declared the
queue disappeared in the debris"
The military effect of the bombs
has been negligible. The Germans
have diverted some Allied air power,
but Allied air superiority is now so
great the Nazis are achieving only
a negative advantage which can
have no bearing on the battle.
Thus far the Nazis have sent over
various types of bombs, but their
differences have been mostly in
their antics while in the air.
Can't Affect Wars Outcome.
Herbert Morrison, Minister Of
Home Security, said in an interview
today that the flying bombs can
not af1ect the outcome OF the war
in any way except give us one re-
minder that this Nazi regime is a
foul and beastly thing to be wiped
of the face of the earth"
He said defensive measures were
'having an important measure of
success and making an appreciable
difference in the weight of the at
tack" He AIDED that everything the
government could do was being
done.
II it had not been for the work
by the Raj, he declared, the at
tacks We are suffering would have
been so much heavier that they
might have been serious to our war
effort"
Mr.. Morrison said it would be
foolish and unkind" to encourage
the people to count on an early end