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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2088.PDF
38o i F LI Aid for Russia " AS compared with the aid which the Soviet Union /A is giving to the Allies by drawing upon itself the main forces of the German Fascist armies, the Allies' aid to the Soviet Union has so far been little effective." This statement by M. Stalin, in reply to a questionnaire by the A.P. Moscow correspondent, places the whole matter of the aid of the Allies to Russia in its proper perspective. "As compared with," etc., is the significant part of the sentence, M. Stalin did not infer that the convoys sent to northern Russia represent in themselves insignificant aid.- But compared with what Russia is doing for the Allies, it is little enough. No one in Great Britain will think other than well of M. Stalin for his outspoken statement. Mr. Churchill voiced the general feeling when he said, after his return from Russia, "The Russians do not think that we or the Americans have done enough so far to take the weight off them. This is not at all surprising in view of the terrific onslaught which they are withstanding with such marvellous tenacity." It appears fairly obvious that we cannot do very much more than we are doing in the way of shipping material to Russia. The opening of that much-discussed second front would be one way, but only those few in the different Governments who are in possession of all the facts are in a position to judge when and where the Allied offensive shall be started. One would have imagined that there must be some intermediate steps which, without committing this country to a full-scale campaign for which the time may not be propitious, would bring real aid to Russia in her ti-rrific struggle. It is difficult to believe that Great Britain could not, for the sake of argument, spare some twenty squadrons of fighters for the Russian front. Such a force, perhaps composed of Hurricane fighter- bombers, could be kept available to go into action at any point where it was most needed. Just now, Stalin grad is the most obvious, and it would scarcely be f-f T OCTOBER 8TH, 1942 CONTENTS The Outlook - - -'•"".<•- - - 379 War in the Air - - - - - 381 Here and There ----- 384 The Luftwaffe in Russia - 385 Eagles Repatriated - - • - - 389 Desert " Retrievers " - - - - 390 Aircraft Characteristics - 390, a and b Preparing for a Career - - - - 391 Behind the Lines ----- 394 D.H. Engine Development - 395 Book Revifcws _____ 396 Cockpit Contamination - - - - 397 Correspondence _____ 400 Service Aviation - - - - - 401 argued that the presence of such help could fail to be of very material aid to the Russians. The Stukas and other Luftwaffe types at Stalingrad would be consider ably subdued if they were faced with a strong force of British fighters jn addition to the Soviet air forces. Germany has made us familiar, in all theatres of wrar, with the use of a heavy concentration of forces in one locality to serve as an irresistible battering ram by over coming all local opposition. A Royal Air Force unit of 4 a size commensurate with our present strength in the air could be held in readiness to concentrate on any particu lar area which the Russian high command might designate. Not the least valuable aspect of such aid would be the moral effect on the Russian ground forces when they saw with their own eyes the very real aid which England was giving them. Goering would almost certainly be compelled to transfer still more fighter squadrons from the western to the eastern front, and this would in turn help our Bomber Command by reducing the opposition met on our raids in the west.
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