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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1675.PDF
AuoysT 17TH, 1944 BATTLEFIELD SUPPORT : A ' pilot "scrambles" on getting/a from a forward visual contpl Atlantic Battle Won on Land : Japan Bombed Again—Likewise the Philippines : Airborne Army Formed I T was cheering news when we were told last week that General Eisen hower had transferred his head quarters from England to France. It obviously implied that a certain mark in the progress of the invasion had been passed. Only a fraction of France has yet been liberated, but the prospect of a landing in the Ri viera has not been ruled out. At the moment of writing it would seem that the forces ready in Corsica are only waiting for General Alexander to gain possession of the Grande Corniche road along the coast from Italy, by which (in the bad old days) Mussolini sent his troops along into Menton and Nice. General de Gaulle has told us that a French Army will soon be taking part in the liberation of the country, and Corsica would seem its natural springboard. What a splendid page in military history has been the dash of American armour into Brittany! It has, of course, been immensely facilitated by Ifhe Allies' command of the air. The Germans evidently did not know where the Americans were going next, and showed complete bewilderment. A few reconnaissance aircraft would have made the position clear, but the Henschels (or whatever—if any—has taken their place) would have merely been indulging in suicide if they had ventured within the cognisance of the American screen of protective fighters. So American armour dashed on head long towards Brest, Lorient and St. Nazaire. It was assumed (and no doubt rightly) that the Germans would make hurried efforts to get their U-boats away before those bases were seized from the land. So heavy bombers were sent to interfere with the attempts at escape. Some 12,000 lb. bombs crashed through the concrete roofs of the submarine pens, while others created tidal waves in the harbours which must have got into the pens from below and would create havoc inside. In addition to these attacks, Lan caster paid a visit to La Pallice—the place connected with one of the ad ventures of the Scharnhorst—which might have been the goal to which some of the U-boats would fly, and treated it to a heavy dose of bombs. These raids by Lancasters were made by day, with fighter cover. In dealing with U-boats the Navv BUZZ-BOMB BLITZ : An air torpedo, attacked by A.D.G.B. aircraft, blows up over the English Channel.
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