Let's look at how the British aviation press is covering the air war, by way of today's issue of Flight, its longest-running periodical (and official organ of the Royal Aero Club). The front cover, along with the first and the last few pages, carry advertisements for various aviation-related products. Here Titanine Ltd is promoting 'the world's premier dope', cleverly incorporating an appropriate and patriotic symbol in the form of an RAF roundel.
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The Times reports (4) that Monday night's raids on Germany included one on the railway yards at Mannheim, where aircrew reported seeing 'a terrific explosion, "the biggest we have seen on any raid so far"' after dropping their bombs; and a long raid on Berlin:
An Air Ministry News Bulletin says that the West power station in Berlin, badly damaged in previous raids, was clearly identified by flares, and a few minutes after the first stick had fallen there was a large explosion and numerous fires marked the success of the attack. The Klingenberg power station was also heavily bombed. Railways were hit, and a factory was set alight.
By contrast, damage caused by German bombers that same night included: houses around a famous square in Central London', a 'girls' prepratory school, in use as a stretcher party station', a laundry, a church hall, shops, a number of houses, and, in 'an industrial town in the East Midlands', a factory (though the fires were quickly put out) and three pubs (2). In daylight attacks on London yesterday, the Luftwaffe did even less damage. A solitary early morning raider, a Ju 88, machine-gunned a train as it was pulling out of a station in 'a populous area south-east of London', though there were no casualties. It then proceeded to fly over nearby streets and machine-gun them:
One local resident said: -- "The bomber swooped right down and raked the streets with heavy machine-gun fire. No one was hit, for the only person in the street was a milkman, and he saved his life by dashing for the shelter of a house. Every bottle in the front of the milk van was smashed by bullets. The horse had a remarkable escape."
A Hurricane shot down a lone bomber in Surrey shortly afterwards, which may have been the same machine.
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Noel Monks, air correspondent of the Daily Mail, is in a confident mood today (1). He is essentially declaring victory for the RAF in the Battle of Britain:
THE R.A.F. have weathered with the passing of September, the "crisis month" of the war. On the first of the month that ends to-day a high Air Ministry official said to me: "As far as the R.A.F. are concerned, this is the critical month of the war: I will be glad when it is past."
Now it IS past. And the R.A.F., who have hurled back every attack made on them, the airmen who have destroyed more than 1,000 German aircraft for the loss of only 286 of their own fighters, have come out on top.
Friday witnessed the signing of the 'Axis-Japanese Pact' in Berlin. The Observer's diplomatic correspondent believes the pact is 'chiefly aimed at the United States', and 'is intended to steal a march on what is regarded as the inevitable alignment of Britain, America, Russia, and China' (7):
Under it, the Axis and Japan pledge each other military aid should any of them be attacked by a Power not at present involved in the European or China wars.
The belief that America will eventually enter the war is a common one (and reflected here by the claim that the likely American response to the pact will be to step up aid to Britain). But I'm surprised to see Russia being thought of in the same way; it's not so long ago that British men were volunteering to help defend Finland against the Red Army.
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The Luftwaffe launched mass daylight raids against London and Bristol yesterday, 'the most widespread of the war' according to the Daily Mail (1), and with the largest losses since 15 September, too. German losses are reported to be 130 aircraft and about 300 aircrew, while the British lost 34 fighters and 19 pilots. Many people watched the battles from the ground, and 'cheered as raider after raider fell'.
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Page 4 of The Times:
For the second night in succession heavy bombers of the R.A.F. have attacked military objectives in the heart of Berlin. During the raid, which lasted over two and a half hours, two factories making electrical equipment, a power station, a foundry, and a canal bridge were all bombed.
Page 1 of the Daily Mail:
GERMANY, thanks to the R.A.F., is at last tasting the bitter medicine her Air Force administered to the defenceless Poles, Dutch, Belgians, and the French. From many neutral sources yesterday came unimpeachable evidence of the shock with which the R.A.F.'s latest raids on Berlin came to a population that was always taught to regard itself as secure. The life of Berlin, like the life of London, is being painfully revolutionised by bombs. Whole areas have had to be evacuated because of time bombs; hours of work have been advanced. And still the R.A.F. have the bombers to spare for the punishment of the would-be invading armies across the Channel.
Things are on the move again, at least in French West Africa. De Gaulle's Free French, assisted by the Royal Navy, are attempting to wrest control of Dakar from their Vichy brethren. A naval battle was raging there yesterday afternoon, though presumably it is over now. According to the Ministry of Information, this action was necessary because the 'Germans were making were making persistent efforts to bring Dakar under their control' (4). According to the Vichy foreign minister, M. Baudoin, this is worse than Mers-el-Kebir, as it is 'not simply a question simply of ships, which might be taken by Germans or Italians, but of a British desire for French property'.
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There is tragic news today. Not that there has been any shortage of that lately, but this is on a different scale, at least qualitatively. A British passenger liner has been sunk by a U-boat in the Atlantic, with heavy loss of life. The ship -- its name has not yet been published -- was evacuating children to safety in Canada: eighty-three are reported lost, and only seven rescued. Two hundred and eleven others also perished, including seven other children not part of the official evacuation programme. The Daily Mail reports (1) that:
Some of the children were trapped in the ship or killed by the explosion.
Others suffered from exposure in life-boats and on rafts, which were swept by wind, waves, rain, and hail for hours before they could be picked up by a British warship.
A full list of the lost children is given on page 5, and stories from the survivors on page 6.
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Lots of good stuff in the Spectator this week, so let's get into it. The 'News of the week' section starts out on page 281 with a paragraph on the speech Churchill gave last Tuesday. Noting that 'some 1,600 civilians have been killed [in London] and some 6,500 injured in the first half of September', the Spectator goes on to argue that
a civilian's life is not more intrinsically valuable than a soldier's, and in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 British casualties were over 400,000. And distressing though the devastation of some London streets is, it is in no way comparable with the destruction of scores of towns and cities in France -- for example Reims -- in the last war. When London is in the battle-line that it should suffer battle-line experience is inevitable.
There's also a paragraph on 'The War in the Air': 'The week that has passed has been one of air warfare such as the world has never before experienced'. On the one side, there is 'ruthless indiscriminate bombing' and on the other 'persistent attacks on military objectives' -- see if you can guess which refers to the RAF and which the Luftwaffe! The daylight air battles, especially the 'amazing result' of last Sunday, 'have given the measure of the real fighting quality of the two forces in legitimate warfare' -- in the week ending 15 September, Germany lost 471 aircraft and Britain only 96.
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Sunday wasn't just Fighter Command's day -- Bomber Command was also hard at work, bombing targets in Berlin and western Germany and along the invasion coast, sinking three ships and losing no aircraft. And not just Bomber Command, either: The Times prints a message from the Air Minister to Coastal Command (4):
I have been asked by the War Cabinet to convey to all squadrons of the Coastal Command their admiration of the skill and courage with which they have carried out the vital and arduous but often unspectacular tasks allotted to them, and of the enterprise and success with which in recent days they have struck at the harbours, shipping, and coastal defences of the enemy.
Of course this is buried at the bottom of the page, whereas Churchill's message to Fighter Command gets a spot at the top of the page, with much bigger headlines:
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