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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0639.PDF
MARCH 30TH, 1944 ENEMY AIR LOSSES TO MAR. Mar. 19 ... „ 20 ... „ 21 ... ,. 22 ... „ 23 ... „ 24 ... ,. 25 ... Over G.B. 10 0 II 1 1 8 0 31 Con tinent 0 - 1 3 1 2 2 0 9 Middle East oooooo o 0 Totals : West, 8,119 ; Middle East, over N.W. Africa and Italy, 4,852. 25th Italy 32 7 4 7 2 19 0 71 5,845 ; 3- very good) and must run little risk except from flak. German flak is never to be despised, but the Ameri can day-bombers have found that the losses they suffer from it do not com pare with their losses from Luftwaffe lighters. Scrutiny of the photographs taken by reconnaissance aircraft from a height of some five miles above Berlin have shown that up to the "V light of February 15th no less than 326 war factories had been destroyed or damaged. These are of varying importance, and the degree of damage varies. The Ministry of Economic Warfare has made lists of factories in Germany, grading them in order of importance. Berlin contains, or con tained, 103 factories of great import ance, which is a greater number than any other city in the Reich can boast. Of these 44 had been hit up to the date mentioned, and 29 of them had suffered severe damage. S This report is now out of/*date. Other raids have fallen jf$on the German capital since tjrose photo graphs were taken. Off the. night of March 24th-25th Timber Command made its heavies^rttack to date, when 2,500 tons of^Combs wgre dropped. Two s^s^^ore^thaj^tha Afcefccan: (he cits/in dayflfWf*an BRITISH * U.S. AIR LOSSES TO MAR. 25th Mar. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Over G.B A'cft. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Continent B'brs. F*tr«. 2 0 10 9 0 8 46 9 29 7 76 7 4 0 167 40 Middle East A'cft. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Italy A'cft. 17 3 4 4 0 II 1 40 Totals : West, 10,744 ; Middle Eait, about 2,387; N.W. Africa and Italy, 1,866. WHAT A NIGHT ! Fit. Lt. J. Singleton, D.F.C. (centre, bandaged) and his navi gator F/O. Haslam (right, also bandaged) back in the Mess after destroying three Ju i88s within 20 minutes. Their starboard engine caugVt fire and the port engine cut. They crash landed in the dark. After putting out the fire with earth they walked home two m<les. SUPERCOVENTRATED : Raid damage in the Berlin central area. The big build ing at the top is the German Air Ministry which fronts on to the Wilheltnstrasse. their attack that the defences were strengthened. On that Friday night more than 1,000 British bombers were out over Germany, attacking Kiel and other places as well as Berlin. But the great battle took place over the Capital, where the defences were stronger than ever. In the night's work Bomber Command lost 73 air craft, the second heaviest loss to date. London had a noisy time on that same night, when some 100 German bombers attacked it, but the greater t of^yjflafioise was due to the guns oirtheCJefeAce^t In this war, as in are more upset by the noise of the mpiifaBt/lblre a|e some people who gUns than they are by the sound of falling bombs. Perhaps they were not in London in the first days of the 1940 blitz, when there were very few guns to shoot at the hundreds of raiders. When a reasonable number of A.A. guns at last arrived, and one night they unexpectedly (to the general public) sent forth a really im pressive roar, the delight of Londoners was great, and their moral (never much depressed) went up at once. On the whole, German moral seems, from the accounts which have reached this country, to be not unduly shat tered so far by the bombing. Several well-informed authorities have de scribed the chief result of it as a general apathy. The German will to resist, at least among the civilian population, is likely to hold out until it is realised that their armies are defeated. Dr. Gobbels is therefore doing his ingenious best to prevent the people from realising how terribly the Russians have surged forward. The Germans can take comfort from Kes- selring's defence in Italy—and the Anglo-American invasion has not yet happened. But it will conic soon.
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