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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0823.PDF
APRIL IST, 1943 FLIGHT 327 Bostons of the U.S. Army Air Force in N. Africa, in close formation as they start off for their objective. Air Offensive in Tunisia : Qerman Raids on Britain : The Fighter Mosquito : American Air Victories WHILE the great battle, orrather battles, in Tunisiasways to and fro it would be futile for a weekly paper to attempt to chronicle each manoeuvre or to draw any conclusions from the facts reported before it went to press. One thing is certain, namely that the opening of the battle was marked by an air bombardment on an absolutely unprecedented scale. The number of sorties made by both the Western Desert Air Force and the squadrons working in Tunisia added together beat even the record of the battle of Alamein. The bombing went on by night as well as by day, and while large numbers of squadrons went for the troops of the enemy, others plas- tered his airfields. Halifaxes and Wel- lingtons of the Western Desert made a special set at positions west of the Mareth Line, while further to the north U.S. Bostons assailed transport on the roads, and the explosion of their bombs lifted trucks bodily into the air and threw them aside into the ditches. German fighters made more of a show than they have put up for some time past, but seemed unwilling to fight things out to a finish, and in the early days of the fighting no great numbers of machines were shot down on either side. Nevertheless, a broad- cast announcer in Berlin stated on March 24th that '' the indisputable air superiority of the Axis over the whole Tunisian area is remarkable," and he went "on to say that the British and American Air Forces for some days past had contented themselves with attacking Italian towns and carrying out " terror raids." The last sentence is a distorted allusion to the activities of Malta, whose squadrons have been even busier than usual over Sicily, chiefly shooting up locomotives. The American Air Force which operates from farther to the east, and was pre- viously reckoned as under the general orders of Gen. Alexander before he left the Middle East for North Africa, has also raided the port of Naples and the terminus of the train ferry at Messina. So has the R.A.F. Nearer Home T AST week Bomber Command sent -'—' about 300 machines, all of the four-engined class, to carry still further the destruction already wrought at St. Nazaire. Only one bomber was lost, which seems very remarkable. It sug- gests that the defences were not any- thing like so strong as they have often been found round the U-boat bases. No doubt the battles in Tiinisia have made the Germans withdraw what forces they felt they could spare from other fronts, and these would include night fighters and A.A. guns. Still it is hard to believe that they would make any serious reduction in the defences of their Atlantic bases for U-boats, for it is on the U-boat that their last lingering hopes of victory depend. At the same time one wonders how they contrive to go on using a place like St. Nazaire or Lorient after the damage done to both by Bomber Command and the Ameri- can Air Force. One can understand that the concrete pens in which the sub- marines are serviced are so strong that even direct hits by heavy bombs do not wreck the precious craft inside ; but every facility for carrying 011 work must, one would think, have been so disorganised by the bombing that it would scarcely be possible to continue the repair work. Yet it seems to be carried out, somehow or other. The Germans continue to reply to the heavy blows of Bomber Command with continuous tip-and-run raids by
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