Oct, 30
For the time being the air war seems to have become a battle of endurance between the German and British capitals and between German provincial centres and British provineing! centres. In spite of the enemy's more favourable geographical position on the Belgian and French coastal areas there cannot be much doubt about the result as the test continues to the bitter end. Londoners and provincials expected to be bombed mercilessly from the start of the war and were therefore psychologically prepared for the blitzkrieg. Berliners were assured by Goering that not one British bomber would get through and the assurance was renewed with added confidence after the fall of France and the withdrawal of the RAF. from captured. territory. Goering and Berliners have had an unpleasant surprise and so" have millions. of other Germans scattered throughout the country. The moral effect of Britain's determined air offensive, carried out night after slit over wide areas of Germany, must be tremendous. According to a United Press message from London "life in Berlin has been seriously disrupted and portions of the city's vital industries lie in charred ruins a result of counter-attacks by the RAF. 'That much is known despite the hiding by the German authorities of the damage done. So devastated are some portions of the city' that foreign journalists have been granted no_ facilities {0 inspect the damage and, instead, have been whisked away in cars, escorted by at Toast thirty German military officials, to see for themselves how "ineffective" British raids have been. It is difficult to get a true picture of the damage done to Germany, $0 strict is the censorship of news coming out of that country, but leakages of vital information have occurred and the world knows that Germany has been well and truly hit by the Royal Air Force.
In the Ruhr and Rhineland districts Germany's steel plants have been subjected to heavy bombings and are now providing only. about twenty per cent, of the Nazi war needs: as against 75 per cent. in the Great War. To add to the Nazi difficulties, areas to escape British bombs contain only 44.1 of Germany's steel capacity. British attacks on German channel bases, too, have cost the Germans heavily. According to reliable neutral re~ ports the Royal Air Force offensive has cost Hitler 60,000 of his picked troops in these bases and has destroyed vast amounts of materials stored ready for his "invasion of England." Added to that is the effect of British raids on the German people, who like them no more than Londoners like German attacks. There is a difference, however, between the two peoples. While the moral: of Britons remains unshaken by Nazi attacks on civilians, there are disquieting rumours: from Berlin' that all is not so well with the German people, who have been regimented on a wartime basis ever since Hitler came to power, and whose liberty and freedom speech has become a thing of the past. The German people have been at war for years. They have been underfed to provide guns for the Nazi army. They have been taxed heavily to finance Hitler's huge expenditures on his war machine. And they are still being. underfed and taxed increasingly as Hitler's promise of a lightning victory has come to nought. So much the human frame can stand and no more.
A quick victory is beyond Hitler's reach as the mighty British Empire is only at the, start of a war effort that will eclipse all that Germany has done to build up a vast war machine. The German people are beginning to realize this and, ax in the last war, the effects of which are still too vivid in the minds of the German people, dis~ content has appeared. Hitler realizes this and he is making a supreme effort to finish off Britain with the help of other Powers, before his own people voice their dissatisfaction openly and he treads the same path as the ex-Kaiser, whose grandiose dreams and quick military successes came to nought. 'Meanwhile the R.AF. continues to lay in ruins Germany's vital industries night after' night and the German people cower in their shelters for hours on end, surprised and shocked that Goering's promises of immunity, from air attacks have been proved 10 be tas false as Hitler's promises of a quick victory and better times {0 come.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.