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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1573.PDF
AUGUST 3RD, 1944 FLIGHT WA Normandy and Rain : Luftwaffe's Appearances: Tank Factories Bombed : Sumatra's Naval Base Attacked TIE period of torrential rain in Normandy gave Rommel a chance to move up reinforcements to the south of Caen, so that when the British and Canadians of the 2nd Army tried to advance they were met by very strong de fences, and the infantry could only make slow progress, suffer ing casualties as they advanced. A tactical weapon on which the Army has come to rely a great deal in such circumstances is the rocket-firing Typhoon. These were called upon to try and clear the way, and they attacked with all the tradi tional elan of the R.A.F., but they did not meet with immediate success. The German defence position remained solid for a few more days. The rain had probably prevented our reconnaissance machines from dis covering the movements of tanks and anti-tank guns up to the German posi tion. This concentration must have cost a tremendous effort, and we can picture for ourselves how the roads must have been choked. It may well have resulted in convoys of air tor- ANTI-U-BOAT : A Spitfire-escorted Sunderland, passes the Eddystone pedoes failing to get through from the store caves to the launching platforms, for a period of noticeably reduced activity on their part ensued. Bad weather usually means that more of the bombs which are despatched are shot down en route and fail to arrive at an area where they can do damage. But if the supplies at the launching bases begin to run short and cannot be replenished because the roads are choked with Army reinforcements, the result must be that fewer of the missiles are sent on their way. So bad weather may also restrict their activities. The rain had another effect. An on its way out on a submarine patrol, lighthouse. R.A.F. officer observer remarked thai the German runways were '' probably much worse than ours, for no Hun fighters—which usually take every advantage of low cloud for hit-and- run tactics—have shown up over the Normandy battle area for two days during daylight." This remark is illuminating, for most observers have represented the fighter section of the Luftwaffe as playing no part at all in the battle. Tip-and-run tactics, how ever, cannot have more than a nuis ance value, and certainly do not represent an attempt to gain control of the air. Striking at ground troops, or at airstrips, is only a secondary function of fighters. If they cannot and will not attempt to grapple with opposing fighters, they are in fact a beaten force, and by their actions they show that they admit that fact. German Bombers J UFTWAFFE bombers have, once at least, shown a little more enter prise. One night last week they made a sharp raid on the Caen area, and kept our night-fighters and A.A. guns in action for a long period. There was nothing like concentration or satura tion about their tactics; in fact, their object probably was to spin things out and keep our men on the qui vive for as long a time as possible during the night. Still, this was not a very impressive effort. We had been led to believe that the P.M.'s A.O.P. : Mr. Churchill in the Fieseler 156k Storch which he used during his recent visit to Normandy.
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