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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0689.PDF
MARCH I8TH, 1943 'FLIGHT 273 •—'f imimt. jit. the AIR Jffr- Sneak Raids on Britain : Qains and Losses in Russia : Hard Fighting in Africa WHILE the weight of attack byBomber Command and by theU.S. Eighth Air Force on Ger- many and occupied territory grows ever more massive, the Germans reply with light raids on British towns, mostly along the south coast. On the night of March 7th a big four-engined Hein- kel 177 was shot down by a Beau- fighter and fell into the Channel, and on the same night three Dornier 217s were also shot down. But it has be- come very unusual for the Germans to use large bombers in raids against Britain. They have recently sent 12 Army divisions from western Europe to aid their counter-offensive against the Russians in the Donetz Basin, and presumably they sent proportionate contin- gents of the Luftwaffe witn them. There can- not be many heavy bombers left in north- ern France and, as a matter of fact, the raiding has been car- ried out almost entirely by fighters or fighter- bombers. In the latter half of February less than 50 sorties were made by them, and the average time they spent over English soil was about three FIGHTING FRENCHTARGET -. Sebha land- ing ground in the Fezzanas it appeared just before an attack by FightingFrench aircraft. The hangar in the middlewent up in smoke. GENERAL PURPOSE : The MartinMarauder (B26) now in service with the R.A.F. in the Mediterranean area.It is fitted to carry either bombs or torpedoes internally stowed. Nodetails of armament or performance may be published. minutes. Very occasionally an ad- venturous pilot will fly far enough inland to set the sirens wailing in London", but the general policy obviously is to kill a few British people with as little risk as possible to the raiders. The Germans do not want to lose aircraft if they can possibly avoid it, and the maximum effort at the end of last month was the crossing of the coast by eleven Fw 190s in day- light. By night fewer machines have been sent, and in the last eight days of February only one bomber made a night raid on England. These petty efforts, which produce tragedies but make no difference to the progress of the war, can be represented to the German people as heavy and destruc- tive raids. The contrast between these spiteful efforts and the many strong attacks by Bomber Command on such important centres as Nuremberg, Cologne and Munich needs no emphasis. Sometimes, it appears, moral effect is taken into account, as, for example, in the day- light raids 011 Berlin by Mosquitoes on the day when the Nazi leaders had arranged to broadcast, but there is always an intention to hit some target which contributes to Germany's war effort. Probably both considerations were taken into account in the raid on Munich on the night of March 9th, ft was not such a heavy raid as- many other recent ones have been, and only about 500 tons of bombs were dropped
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