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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0169.PDF
FIGHTER OVER FEZ : A ferry pilot delivering a Spitfire from the aircraft park at Casablanca to an operational base. Hitting the Qermans in the Aegean : Contrasted Policies in Italy : A Riddle for the Japanese E>T week mention was made of the Allied air effort against the Balkans in general, and the con fusing effect which it must have on the minds of the Axis leaders. Some more details have since come from Cairo. The Germans in the Aegean are doing much what the Japanese have tried to do in the South West Pacific, by basing their defence on a line of forti fied islands, described in the rhetorical way which the Germans so much affect, as an "iron ring." The main points are Crete, Rhodes, and Scar- panto, the last named lying be- • tween the first two. On these islands and others near by are considerable German garrisons, while Crete and Rhodes in particular are well off for airfields. The detachments of the Luftwaffe on the islands are an ad vanced screen, backed by a stronger force of aircraft on the mainland, chiefly congregated on the bases round Athens. It is exceedingly unfortunate that Rhodes was not seized by the British at the time of Italy's surrender, but now it is no use crying over spilt milk. The Mediterranean Air Force is doing its best to remedy the situation by a series of attacks on both the forward screen and the bases. One hears fre quently of air raids on the Eleusis air field and others in the neighbourhood of Athens, as well as on the port of the Piraeus. It is not only necessary to hit the airfields as hard and as often as possible, but also to interfere with the ships which carry supplies to the ^islands. Many of these are schooners, and presumably the crews are Greeks. One feels sorry for them, for doubtless *
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