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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0429.PDF
MARCH 8TH, 1945 FUG HIT (i WAR IN THE AIR could use sea transport up the coast, and he also built a railway from Bang- kok to serve his needs. That railway is so constantly cut by the Allied bombers that it cannot be depended on as a source of supply ; while British sea power in the Bay of Bengal has now been re-established. No doubt Rangoon will be seized by us in a combined operation from the sea, just as soon as the shipping becomes avail- able. That will put an end to the" Japanese occupation of Burma. The country has never been properly con- nected with India by land, as it should have been, and in the old days sea communications were relied upon to do everything. It was a short-sighted arrangement, and must be rectified in the future. Probably the sea will always be the chief means of linking ^India and Burma, and we must never again risk losing command of the sea. But land communications must be de- veloped, whatever the cost. In the meantime the air has come to our help and made good our other deficiencies. We are very thankful for it; but Burma is not a good flying country at the best of times, and in bad weather the aircraft have to run many risks. Hanging Up the Washing* CINCE the successful German ad- ^ vance in the West in 1940 the catchy, popular song about "hanging up the washing on the Siegfried Line " has not been heard. It was a bit of swagger, of which our defeat made us feel ashamed.' Now, however, if the troops of Gen. Eisenhower have any time for laundry operations, there would be nothing to prevent them from making any contemptuous use of the Siegfried Line to which their spirits disposed them. The Siegfried Line has crumbled, and tile Anglo- American forces are up against the DONNER UND BLITZEN : Major Herway inspecting the damage to his Thunder-bolt after sustaining a direct hit from a German 88 m.m. A.A. shell and making a crash landing. He skidded 500 yards before coming to a standstill. Rhine. The Germans are believed to have got the bulk of their heavy equip- ment across the great river, for the bad weather prevented the Allied Tactical Air Forces from destroying it en route. Ruudstedt did not make the mistake of delaying his withdrawal until it was too late. It remains to be seen how long the Rhine will delay the Allies; it will certainly not hold them up permanently, and once they have crossed it the end of German re- sistance cannot be far off. Once more the Germans have re- paired the Dortmund-Ems Canal, and once more the Allies have breached it. Things have recently been going equally well for the Allied cause on the Eastern Front. The Russians have been simply romping ahead in East Prussia and Pomerania, and have reached the Baltic Sea. No doubt their air superiority helped them, by THERE'S A LONG LONG TRAIL :perimeter track to the take Mitchells of-off point o; reconnaissance as well as by striking at tho retreating Germans; but, as usual, they have said little about this side of their campaigning. Their reti- cence in this respect is a strange con- trast to the way in which stress is always laid on the weather on the Western Front, and whether the Allied aircraft have been able to play their due part in the fighting. A dull day means so many points to the Germans, and a bright day means greater success by the Allies. For some time the Allies seemed in doubt as to whether Rund- stedt meant to withdraw across the Rhine; but a fine day soon made his intentions clear. But, whatever the weather might be on the Western Front, the Allied heavy bombers have been regularly sallying forth to give tactical support to the Russian armies, not by engag- ing in actual battles, but by clearing away obstacles, such as airfields, in the paths which the Red Army means to tread. This arrangement is obvi- ously one of the results of the Crimea conference. 1 At this stage of the war it is a strange development that London and other places in England should lately have heard once more the now almost unfamiliar notes of air-raid sirens. Since Belgium was liberated and the launching sites of air torpedoes there were captured, the Banshee wailings have not been heard in England. Rocket bombs have arrived in south- ern England, and have caused damage and casualties; but the arrival is not heralded by sirens, for they travel faster than sound. Lately, however, air torpedoes have once more been used, and even bomber aircraft have ventured to attack Great Britain by night. This looks like the last desperate stroke by an enrmy who knows that he is beaten
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