Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-03-12

nome.
off, hitting him like small child being
driven off to bed, and driving him off
into the country. 1t wouldn't be too
good if a couple of German bombers,
loaded with HE, came tumbling down
on crowded London. So the German
is harried and pushed around. If he
Is hit it is fine, but not often is he hit
over the metropolitan area. He usually
falls, when he does fall, in some almost
deserted section.
The guns are something to see in
action. Not long ago few ferries came
over and all London opened up. Old
timers said it was the greatest air bar
ragesever seen IN London. Greatsf. than,
sHslsing IN nm tltsN ~ 49,
German Flares @~~s@ 80
Jerry. dropped aresr--jRhey lii.
up part ri the IVES and ssS sa1 The
Thames so brightly you co,ild tEad q
newspaper by the intense white light.
And the automatic weapons opened up
on the flares. The drumfre was fairly
intense. Once in a while something big
would go of. WAS that bomb?" we
asked. NO" said an American officer.
That's new type British antiaircraft
gun" The idea Of the automatic weap-
onS, which are fast-shooting things
somewhat like machine guns, is to de-
stroy the flare or the parachute which
keeps it up, SO Jerry will have no illumi-
nation by which to see the target.
But the British have worked out
better scheme. They have a regularly
organized force of planes they call Path
finders, whose duty it is to go across an
area marked for destruction, drop in
tense flares and outline the target area
to be bombed. They do great job,
through cloud cover or through moon
light.
Time was when the Raj on its night
bombing forays needed moonlight to do
the job. The Pathfnders changed all
that. Big bombers especially arranged
for dropping of flares and also capable
Of carrying heavy bombs, they are
manned by veterans of many bombing
missions over Germany. The men are
picked men in every sense of the word,
men who know the way around in the
air over Germany, know just where to
drop their target-illuminating flares, and
just what to do to make life more
miserable for the miserable people of
German towns. 1t is methodical bomb
ing at its best, complete destruction of
German cities almost by rule of thumb,
and program which is almost sure to
decide the moot question as to whether
air bombing alone can win q war or a
campaign. Pantelleria, a JOB done by
Americans, was bad enough. But either
the Germans can take more than the
Italians on Pantelleria could take. they
are bounded more by the secret police,
or air bombing isn't as effective at
long range as was the short-range job
done on the little island of the Italian
mainland. At any rate Germany hasn't
yet thrown in the sponge because of
bombing from the air.
Advance Guard
Getting back to the intrepid boys of
the Pathflnding squadrons, they are the
advance guard of the heavies to follow.
Usually the Raj, or the American Air
Force starts diversionary attack over
some other target to draw German night
fighters up, and then the main force
continues on its droning way over the
Channel and over occupied Europe
heading for the big town. which is Ber-
lin. The German throws everything he
has into the air, but the Allied airnen
get through just the same. Not long
ago in a strictly American show, Jerry
threw up some 600 planes. He used
everything he had even yanking obso-
lete training planes and stripping air
Offices of retired majors and colonies to
man them. One hundred and fifty-two
fell in blazing ruin over Germany from
the accurate fire of the Fortresses and
their accompanying fighters. You
wonder how long Jerry can keep up
loss rate like that, when he runs across
the law of diminishing supply, as he
must from the inroads made on his air
craft production by the accurately lethal
day bombing of the 9th Air Force.
Our men go through to the target no
matter what the opposition says It.
Gen. Carl Spaatz, commanding the
United States AIR Forces in Europe.