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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1973.PDF
AUGUST 28TH, 1941. FLIGHT 119 WarinThe Air The Russian. Conflict : Ukraine and Leningrad Thrusts : German Shipping Harassed AGAIN this week chief interest cen- f-\ tres on the struggle in Russia, *• •*• and again the commentator hesitates to generalise because events may falsify his words before they reach his readers. One may, however, say that the third stage of the German offensive seems more formidable than the first two were. The critical paint is the Ukraine, where the Germans have captured the port of Nikolaiev, on the estuary of the river Bug, and have became possessed of several Rus- sian warships still on the stocks. They are said to include a battleship, a heavy cruiser and other vessels. Ger- man spokesmen say that they can re- pair these ships, and that when in commission they will completely alter the balance of power in the Black Sea, which is dominated by the Russian Navy.. But Russian aircraft have been bombing the slips and hope to prevent their completion. A Russian claim is also made that the ships were destroyed before the place was evacuated. Another point which is much in doubt at the moment is whether Mar- shal Budyonny will be able to get the majority of his army safely across the river Dnieper in time. The number of bridges over this formidable river is limited, and the Luftwaffe has been trying to destroy them with bombs. We may presume that the Russians have massed A. A. defences round these bridges. Experience has taught us that it is not at all easy to destroy a bridge by bombing. No. 12 Squad- ron, R.A.F., with its Battles broke the Maastrict bridges, but at the cost of almost complete annihilation of its own machines. In the Spanish civil war there was much comment on the capacity of bridges to survive re- peated air attacks—though perhaps the airmen who assailed them were often foreigners who were not full of the do-or-die spirit. The Thames bridges have proved nuts too hard for the Luftwaffe to crack, at least by high-flying night bombers. So we need not despair as yet about the chances of Budyonny's retreat. Leningrad Threatened HPHE thrust in the north is probably •*• in great part a diversion to prevent a movement of Russian troops south- ward to reinforce Budyonny, combined with a desire to capture Leningrad be- fore the advent of winter makes mili- tary operations impossible. That city, we are told is very strongly defended, and so far it has not been reported that the Germans have sent many bombing raids against it. The Rus- sians will make every effort to hold it, for the city founded by Peter the Great is a great source of national pride; it is an important industrial centre, and, perhaps most important of all, its loss would isolate the naval port of Kronstadt, from which Russian warships have been dealing heavy blows at German shipping. Communications are one of the chief German difficulties in their invasion of Russia, and it is said that they are using hundreds of transport aeroplanes in the effort to ease the situation. No doubt they are, and for special pur- poses these large craft can serve a very useful purpose. But one cannot imagine a few hundred of them mak- ing any material difference to a battle front which extends for such a pro- digious length. Once again there have been reports of tanks being trans- ported in aircraft. In special aircraft something of the nature of a tank, say a machine-gun carrier, weighing not more than five tons, could be trans- ported, or a section of a tank of that weight. In the latter case several air- craft with the various sections would have to land close together, and the tank would have to be designed for rapid assembly in the field. Such a tank might be useful in a few special cases, but it could hardly hope to sur- vive against troops well armed with anti-tank rifles or anti-tank guns. It does not appear probable that any world-shaking victory is to be won by tanks transported through the air. Enemy Shipping Sunk '"THE R.A.F., backed on occasions by •*• the Fleet Air Arm, has been con- tinuing its vigorous offensive both in the northern area of the war and in the Mediterranean. One day lately an offensive sweep was made by many squadrons of fighters, first in the morning and then in the afternoon. The fighters attacked shipping in the harbour at Ostend, and many vessels were hit, one being in a sinking con- dition when last seen. We may be sure that it was not machine-gun rounds which brought about that re- sult; the installation of shell-guns has made our fighters weapons of attack with a wider range of usefulness than tOMING UNSTUCK : An impressive shot of a Catalina at the moment of leaving the water. This view shows clearly the"lister turrets for the rear gunners and the outboard wing floats which are retracted to form the wing tips after take off. This is the actual Catalina which found the Bismarck after the surface vessels had lost touch.
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