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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2345.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD ? FOUNDED WOD Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices Telegram* : Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY : 8-10, CORPORATION ST., Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. BIRMINGHAM, 2 : GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 297 1 (5 iines). DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E1 Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C.2 s 260, DEANSGATE, 26B, REN Fl ELD ST„ Telegrams : lliffe, Manchester. Telegrams: lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Blackfrlars +412. Telephone : Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad : Year, £3 10. 6 months, £1 10 6, 3 months, 15s. 3d. Registered ot the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. No. 1768. Vol. XLII. November 12th, 1942. The Outlook. Thursdays, One Shilling. Victory in the Desert G OOD news has lately been coming in from all the Allied fronts, except, perhaps, from the Caucasus. The Caucasus campaign is but one-half of the combined Axis movement of which Rommel's threat to Egypt was the other claw, and, for the time being at any rate, that threat has vanished. In this moment of exultation the thoughts of all the Allies turn to Russia, where the hard-pressed soldiers and civilians have been anxiously waiting for news of some significant success by their friends. Correspondents have remarked that little attention was paid there to the slow advance of the British in Egypt, for in Russian eyes nothing suc ceeds but success. Now they cannot help but see in the driving back of the Axis armies in Egypt possibili ties which certainly ought to bring them substantial, if not immediate, relief. - All the reports agree that General Montgomery's success has been due to the perfection of the way in which land and air forces have worked together. Ground artillery of all calibres and heavy, medium and light bombers have composed one powerful striking arm, with the infantry and armour fitting in, so that the whole battle has resembled a skilfully played game of chess, in which pawns, bishops, knights, castles and queen have each contributed a proper share towards the final result. Not least among the contributions to victory should be rated the work of the British torpedo-aircraft iind submarines, which have so seriously interfered with the Axis supplies. The actual enemy tonnage claimed to have been sunk by the torpedoes, namely, 50,000 tons, is not enormous, but some of the sinkings were of the highest importance. The Axis troops and air craft were in urgent need of petrol, and so had to risk sending tankers up to Tobruk. Several were sunk on the way, and that may well have been a contributoiy cause, if not one of the chief causes, of the sudden debacle of the enemy. In the retreat and pursuit the British and Allied air forces must play the busiest part. In olden days the cavalry and horse artillery were sent on to shatter a retreating foe; now that role is undertaken by aircraft. Oi course, the bombers and fighters cannot cover every spot of the desert, and they have been ordered to con centrate on the coast road. The whole of the enemy's force will not attempt to use that road, but many elements will have no other alternative, and the carnage already wreaked along its line must almost resemble the cutting up of a Turkish army in 1918 when it attempted fcc escape out of Palestine through a narrow mountain gorge. All the staff cars, for instance, must face the perils of that road, and already many have not found safety that way. It is supposed that the enemy has stores of food and petrol farther back, and will retreat on to them, and there may be Italian forces in reserve. A falling back in the desert does not always mean complete defeat— as the British proved when they fell back on to the line between El Alamein and the Qattara depression. But the recovery-' of airfields and harbours is of the utmost importance to the Allies. The ground crews of the squadrons must be packing up with a dispatch at which they are experts, and pressing forward to other airfields vacated by the enemy. The possession of Libyan air fields is the first step necessary for the reassertion of British mastery in the Mediterranean. The army of Rommel has not yet been destroyed, and until its destruction-has been accomplished as com pletely as was the destruction of Graziani's army, we cannot say that the end of the Middle East campaign is in sight. But we all have every ground for cheer. Our Army and our Air Force in the desert are now
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