The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 5

THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN, TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1943 5 GERMANY ON THE DEFENSIVE Dittmar Explains NEW FRENCH COMMITTEE SITS FOR FIVE HOURS General Giraud's Two Nominees ESCAPED GENERAL AND A FINANCE EXPERT CHOSEN THE CLOTHES COUPONS Popular Fallacies A SURVEY OF THE SECOND YEAR NAZIS' BALKAN ALLIES Anxious Meetings HUNGARY WAITING FOR ITALY From our Special Correspondent Istanbul, May 31. The laconic statement issued after ALLIES NOW FORCED ments through much of the last war and FORTRESSES' SUCCESS OVER NAPLES Heavy Damage in Day Raid TEN FIGHTERS SHOT DOWN WITHOUT LOSS Liberators' Blow at Foggia Two more heavy daylight raids were carried out on the Italian mainland on Sunday, while the unceasing air war on her island airfields and harbours was maintained successfully. Considerable damage," in the words or the Italian communique, was done by Flying Fortresses at Naples, where the targets included factories, airfields, and shipping. American Liberators from the Middle East also scored many direct hits on hangars, oil dumps, and 'planes on the aerodrome at Foggia. All our heavy bombers returned from these two raids, though the lortresses met stronger opposition than has been noted for some time.

They shot down ten Axis fighters. he subsidiary raids were on Sardinia and Pantelleria. Only one Allied plane was lost during the whole day; the enemy's losses numbered 14. Two meetings were held yesterday in Algiers of the nucleus of the new French Central Executive Committee which is being established jointly by Generals Giraud and De Gaulle. The first meeting, yesterday morning, lasted for three hours, and the Committee met again in the afternoon for two hours.

No statement was issued and a spokesman said none could be expected. It is not known who presided at the meetings. The absence of a communique icaDies neuters Algiers correspondent) gave rise to a crop of rumours. accoraing to wmcn 'marked differ ences oi opinion naa shown insuperable nhstaclpK tr -Fm-fViw ivgic, Responsible political observers, how ever, certainly Knew ot no such differences. The first meeting was attended bv seven leading Frenchmen.

With General ae iraune were lieneral Catroux M. Andre Philip, and M. Rene Mass'igli uenerai uiraua was accompanied by M. Jean Mornpt stiH fc wwibAUl QLUUbJ Georges. ifte new committee is to consist of nine members, of whom the two French leaders mav earh nnminnto elusion of the first session it was announced that General Giraud had appointed General Georges and M.

Monnet as his representatives. General Jacques Georges recently escapea irom trance, lie commanded the French armies in the north-west sector lads, and was considered as a likely rival to General Weygand for the post of Commander-in-Chief in succession to nenernl nn-molin M. Jean Monnet is a diplomatist and financier, knoton for his work in the miauc-iai neia ior tne Amed Govern WELCOME ADDITION TO ALLIED FLEETS The Alexandria Squadron's Guns From a Naval Correspondent). FREIGHTER SUNK, TANKER HIT Havoc in Naples Harbour and Docks From Renter's Special Correspondent heard by the Fortress crews high TO ATTACK General Dittmar, the spokesman of the German High Command, speaking on the Berlin wireless last night, said Our enemies declare that the time for offensive warfare is over so far as we are concerned, and that the initiative has definitely passed into their hands. The question of who is able to attack is Jess important at the present time than the question of who is forced to attack.

Those who must attack are our opponents, not ourselves. We can now re-p the fruits of previous successes. It is completely wrong for our enemies to say that the Blitzkrieg is a thing of the past. It is not the question of whether we could still wage a Blitzkrieg, This need not be discussed because the necessities no longer exist which on pre vious occasions compelled us to do so. At that time we had to conduct Blitzkriegs in order to win the space which now serves us.

Speaking about the offensive and the defensive, Dittmar went on Clausewitz says that the defensive is the stronger weapon of the two. His words about the advantage in war which springs from possession fully applies to our present position. We have won an area whose effective use makes it ever more difficult to attack us. This makes it necessary for our enemies to attack us. Sometimes offensives have to be undertaken under the pressure of circumstances which compels the attacker to seek a way out of an otherwise hopeless situation.

In the spring of 1918 we were compelled to attack because we had no other choice. With every month the disproportion of resources grew more unfavourable to us and the shortage of war material and food increased. Thus the offensive of 1918 was an unavoidable necessity, and because of that it was more a sign of weakness than of strength. "LOOKS LIKE WAITING Between the offensive and the defen sive there is, in fact, room for a third thing. In appearance it looks like waiting, but in spite of its apparent passivity it can be an intensely active element in war if it is based on the knowledge that sooner or later the enemy is forced to attack.

AH plans for attack or invasion will come up against the strength of our forres and those of our allies, against the resistance of our fortifications, and- above all, against our strongest asset, experience and increased operational and tactical knowledge, the result of four years of war. The traditional British tactic of attempting to surround the enemy and to strangle him has no chance of success to-day. There is another important difference compared with 1918. At that time the United States threw the whole weight of their economic and military power exclusively against ou'elves and our European allies, whilst in the present war their war potential must be divided, just as that of the British Empire is divided. Our enemies eon- duct, even more than ourselves, a war on several fronts, of which the sea front is not the least important.

Perhaps it is just this front which exerts the strongest compulsion on the decisions of our enemies. After the painful loss of Tunisia some danger, no doubt, is coming nearer tn us and to our allies. But the fact that the enemy must not only come nearer, that he must come near, very near, if he wants to force the decision of which he is in need this fact gives us a chance which cannot be overestimated in this time of apparent stagnation and increased tension. ROME ON INVASION "It Seems Impossible" The Italian military spokesman in a broadcast from Rome last night declared that to invade the Continent the Allies would need at least 300 divisions and several million tons of shipping which seems impossible to carry out when one thinks of it with a balanced mind." The air he declared. is really the only means the Allies have of striking, According to the German press, 1,500,000 men are now working on Europe's defences.

500.000 on the West wan irom iiouana to the Atlantic coast, luu.uuu on the French Mediter ranean coast, 130.000 in Norway and uenmarK. ana tnousanas more in boutnern Europe. Invasion in June was forecast vestpr. dav bv the New York Times," which said June promises to be a fateful month for a world at war, for now it appears inevitable that this month will see the beginning of the Allied invasion ot tne European continent. Reuter.

GIBRALTAR TRAFFIC Three British aircraft-carriers, three battleships, and some destroyers left Gibraltar yesterday morning, according to the German radio. There is no large naval unit at present anchoring Gibraltar, the radio added. It is said that part of inese units nave sauea tor the JMeaiter- rarear. and another part for the Atlantic. During this morning one cruiser and four destroyers entered uicraitar.

euter. MORE BULGARIANS SHOT Two more assassinations in Bulgaria are reported bv the German radio. Kljaskoff, deputy of Plovidiv. died of injuries received when he was shot by two Communists and Maleff. commander of a squadron of Bulgarian mounted police, was shot by "terrorists" in the town of Pleven, according to an official Bulgarian announcement, the radio said.

A LONDON NIGHT ALERT An air-raid alert was sounded in the London area early to-day when a small number of 'planes approached. After a short time the all-clear was given. No incidents were reported. LORD CECIL'S MISHAP An X-ray examination shows that in his fall from the stage of a Richmond (Surrey) cinema on Sunday. Lord Cecil of Chelwood slightly injured one of his the next fortnight Lord Cecil is 78.

At the end of two years of clothes rationing the Board of Trade has held an unofficial survey which shows some perhaps unexpected conclusions. They. include the following Women do not borrow their husbands' clothes coupons. Parents do not make sacrifices for children's clothes. Boys between 14 and 16 years of age are the heaviest coupon-users.

At the end of the first year's rationing it was found that men were making only slightly less use of clothing coupons than women. At the end of the second year women showed a very slight inclination to use more than their quota. During the two years there have been months when sales of children's clothing have been slightly less than the amount to which they were entitled. snowing tnat their coupons have Been diverted to other purposes. At the end of the first year people had an average of two or three coupons remaining out of the 66 issued at the end of the second year very few people had any of their 48 coupons left.

rne numoer ot coupons spent Dy women on stockings amounted to 18 per cent, and on underwear 19 per cent. Men spent 26 per cent of their coupons on shirts and underwear and 15 per cent on socks. Boys between the ages of 14 and lf when thev are leaving school and requiring adult clothing have been the heaviest coupon users, girls of the same age following closely behind. Since towels have been rationed one half-coupon per head of the population has been spent on them. People have played the game remarkably well," a Board of Trade official told a reporter.

On the whole the system has worked like clockwork." In two years clothes rationing has resulted in a saving of half a million tons of shipping space. Release of workers by the end of the first year has amounted to over 400.000, and 600,000,000 of the public's money has been diverted from clothes buying to more profitable purposes. Flax, used previously for handkerchiefs and hosiery, is nov used for hawsers and the outer skin of some aeroplanes. Silk for 130 pairs of silk stockings makes a parachute and harness. Austerity clothes have resulted in 5,000,000" yards of cloth being diverted to the war effort.

WHAT ONE MORE COUPON WOULD MEAN To supply everyone with only one more clothing coupon would mean taking 8,000 people off essential work and 5,000 tons of raw material to make the clothes to meet the extra coupons. Mr. Claud Simmonds, Director of Public Relations at the Board of Trade, in a broadcast last night gave this reply to people who think the coupon allowance is stingy." That amount of labour and material, he said, was sufficient to clothe half a million soldiers from head to foot overcoats and all. It took as much silk as used to go into 162 pairs of stockings about five years of silk stockings as the average woman wore them before the war to make one parachute. Five years for an airman's life," commented Mr.

Simmonds. The new seamless stockings coming on to the market would be much stronger than hitherto. 'PLANE American Production Spartamburg (South Carolina), May 31. Mr. James F.

Byrnes, the new Director of War Mobilisation, announced in a broadcast to-night that the 'plane to come off the production lines since the United States began their war production programme was completed to-day. Merchant ships were being built four times as fast as they were being sunk and the Navy was being doubled this year. In the first five months of 1943 100 fighting ships were finished one every5 31 hours. They had enough bombs for 542 raids as big as that which hit Dortmund. Mr.

Byrnes disclosed the sinking of four German submarines which attacked a convoy and said that on another occasion radio enabled the United States Navy to sink a Japanese battleship eight miles away on a stormy night. Reuter and Associated Press. R.A.F. BOMBER SWEEPS Spitfires Destroy Two F.VV.S Two 190's were destroyed by Spitfires near Bruges last evening. A Canadian wing of the were making 'a diversionary sweep while Venturas were attacking targets ot Zeebrugge.

About thirty enemy fighters were seen, and the F.W.s were shot down during the running fight- which followed. Objectives at Flushing were attacked by Mitchell bombers, escorted by fighters, and cover was also provided for Venturas which bombed the docks at Cherbourg and the airfield at Caen. A number of F.W.a which attempted interception near Caen were driven off. From the various operations one RAF. machine is missing.

During the day two large explosions were reported between Calais and Boulogne and dense clouds of smoke were seen from the English coast. "FORT" CLAIMS 11 FIGHTERS A statement issued by United States Army Air Force headquarters in Britain say3 that a Flying Fortress piloted by First Lieutenant Robert H. Smith, of Lamesa, Texas, shot down 11 German fighters during a recent raid on Wilhelmshaven, a record for the Eighth Air The bomber came down in the North Sea on its homeward i'ourney but the crew were picked up a British ship after they had spent thirty hours in their dinghies. A CARRIER'S SUCCESSES A United States Navy Department communique says that in a year of battling through the Pacific the aircraft-carrier Enterprise sank or damaged twenty warships and destroyed at -least 240 Japanese 'planes. THE CHINESE PRESIDENT Chungking, May 31.

The condition of the President. Dr Lin-sen. showed further durins the day. stated a medical bulletin issued to-night His blood pressure has imuroved and his mind annean rearer. was added.

Dr. Lin-sen. who- bad a strose on aiay ix, js oi. neuter. again in this, tor his work as repre sentative of the Inter-Allied Maritime commission the last war he received the K.B.E.

On the outbreak of the war he became chairman of the Anglo-French Co-ordination Committee for the purchase of supplies. NO STATEMENT Yesterday morning's conference lasted nearly three hours, Radio France broad cast from Algiers last night. "No details have yet been released about the decisions taken.V it added. General de Gaulle left the conference room first and returned to his villa, General Catroux and MM. Monnet, Massigli, and Philip continuing the discussion.

The Executive held another meeting in the afternoon which lasted for two hours, at the end of which spokesman said that no communique could be expected. The radio also said that Generals Giraud and De Gaulle have agreed to send Senator Maroselli as a common representative to Washington to deal with questions affecting French prisoners of war. Maroselli ioined De Gaulle some time ago and is at present in Algiers. neuter. GENERAL JOINS DE GAULLE General Vuillemin, former Chief of the French Air Staff, has been given the rank of lieutenant general in the Fighting French Aic Force by General de Gaulle, it was stated by Algiers radio last nieht.

General de Gaulle, it was added, had received a letter from General Vuille min in which he stated I have the honour to ask for an active command in the Fighting French Air Force." British united Press. of the guns constituting the main armaments of the Lorraine (13.4in.) and uusuay-irouin o.nn.) curler from any in the British or Umtprl Ktati Nisc Still, there mav be some reserve of snens ior tnese Euns in the arsenals at Bizerta, Oran, and Casablanca. Fail-ine this it mav be decided to rearm the Dueuav-Trouin with 6in. euns nf Rritish or American design. This ought not to email any great delay, since all the ships of the squadron are likely to need dry-dockine and overhaul before thev are commissionea.

JOINED THE ALLIES VOLUNTARILY It was officially confirmed in London yesterday that the French naval squadron at Alexandria has come over to the Allies of its own free will. The squadron joined the Allies after negotia tions with General Giraud of which the British Government has been kent fully informed. The allegation by Vichy that tne squadron was starved into submission that supplies of food were cut off is quite untrue. AMERICAN FAR EAST GENERAL HERE Studies Mass Bombing Lieutenant General Joseph W. Stilwell.

Commander of the United States Army Forces in China, India, and Burma, is in England and has already held a number of secret conferences with United States and British war chiefs. He is on his way back to China and is studying European tactics and "further military operations on the way, states the headquarters of the United States Army in Europe. General Stilwell's only comment which will not pass unnoticed in Japan was, "Heavy bombardment by large numbers of 'planes over long distances is very interesting." He added that he was much impressed by the potentialities of Liberators as longdistance bombers. General Stilwell was present at the Washington conferences of Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt.

THE BIRTHDAY HONOURS The list of honours to be announced on the occasion of the King's birthday will be issued to the press this year in two parts, the first for publication to-morrow morning and the second for Friday morning. The second part will be restricted to the following -Civil awards on the United Kingdom list. O.B.E.. IS.O., M.B.E.. British Empire Medal, and civil commendations for valuable service in the air.

EIRE POLLING ON JUNE 22 President Hyde has decreed the holding of a general election in Eire. June 9 will be nomination day. and polling will take place on June 22. itself threatened by forces which have "virtually surrounded" five Japanese! divisions near by. In furious air battles over Ichang to-dav Allied 'planes shot down 23 Japanese aircraft for certain and probably accounted for eight more.

This is the biggest reported air victory so far achieved by Chinese and Allied aircraft operating together. It followed a heavy bombing attack Dy Allied oomoers escorted by Chinese fighters, which caused great damage to Japanese installations. Twenty of the 'planes were destroyed by Allied airmen (who were also responsible for five of the eight "probable To-night's Chinese communique says that the offensive is beine conducted along the entire Yangtze River front, with, the Chinese centre and left wing converging on Changyang. the recapture of which is expected Although the Japanese are still stubbornly resisting, their flank is threatened and their rear is beina severely pounded by the Chinese and United States air forces. The Chinese weae report to be only 15 miles south-west of Ichang.

The retreating Japanese left 2,000 dead and wounded. Reuter and Associated Press. the Washington conference appears to have intensified anxiety in the coun tries controlled by Germany, and everywhere people are busy com menting on every word of it or speculating on its omissions. In the entire EuroDean continent the feelinir of tense expectation now prevailing can be compared to the poignant suspense before the -battle of El Alamein. Information received here from Balkan underlings of Germany gives more consistence to the impression that their future attitude will depend a great deal on the Italian situation.

Hungarians Seem to have marto iin their mind to follow Italy's example whatever that may be. and the general belief in Budapest is that the principal object of the visit Paid to Roms twn aeo by Mr. Kallay, the Hungarian Premier, was to learn what Italy's action will be. A good many people in Hungary are pnnvinnpH tVint ertma rp coA.ot understanding has been concluded oeiween iiaiy and wungary setting the foundations for a common line of policy in case thf urar citnoHAr hornmoc desperate for them. it seems that the Germans have been much irritated by those secret conversations behind their backs and that the plnsintr nf tha r.

raLiiauicui. was due not so much to fear of attacks agamsx tne uovernment on the part of the anti Germans but to apprehension of embarrassing questions on Kallay's visit to Rome being put by the pro-Nazis. TRYING TO FLATTER TURKS It is also noticed here that the Hungarians are making great efforts to get close to Turkey. For a long time thev were boasting of having saved Europe bv staving off the Ottoman onslaught in the seventeenth century now they seem to have remembered suddenly their common origin with the Turks and thev are trying to make the most of it through the Turco-Magyar Association recently set up in Budapest. At the same time the new Italian Ambassador to Turkey.

Guariglia. is going out of his way to pay compliments to Turkey, and in a recent speech made Istanbul he took great pains to emphasise that Italian and Turkish interests in the Mediterranean are identical and not conflicting. Evidently the war-weary partisans of Germany are casting flirtatious glances towards Turkey with the idea that she might become useful some day in helping to probe the Allies' intentions and eventually to obtain their goodwill towards them. 'The Times' 'Manchester Guardian' Service NAZIS PRESS RUMANIA Ankara, May 31. A bitter and protracted struggle is going on in Rumania between the German missions and the Bucharest Government, which is trying to resist the Nazi demands, according to reliable information in Ankara.

General Hansen, chief of the German military mission, is bringing the main weight to bear on the Rumanians' determination-not to make any more heavy sacrifices in Russia. Reuter. PENSIONS APPEALS Tribunals at Work in August The Government has decided to set up pensions appeals tribunals. They will probably start work at the end of August. A bill is to be introduced in the House of Commons before "Whitsun tide so that the necessary legislation can be enacted soon afterwards.

As a start nine tribunals will be set up, one of which will be in Scotland. The announcement was made by Sir Walter Womersley. Minister of Pensions, at a press conference in Edinburgh yesterday. The Ministry of Pensions would do all it could, he said, to help men and women to succeed in their claims. The' appeal tribunals will consist of three members.

In England members will be selected by the Lord Chancellor and in Scotland by the Lord President of the Court of Session. The chairman will be a lawyer of at least seven years' standing, while one member must be a fully qualified medical man. The third member will be drawn from the Services for Service claims or will probably be a trade unionist for claims by industrial workers or a civilian for civil claims. In the case of appeals from the women's Services the third member will be a woman who has served with the forces. Sir Walter said that it was considered that at least 24 or 26 tribunals would eventually be needed to cover the whole country.

"Any man or woman who has been discharged from the Services during the war and who' feels that his or her pension has been 'rejected without justification will now have the oppoitunity of putting in an appeal. The decisions of the tribunals will be final. We have made arrangements for the payment of arrears in the case of successful appeals." SUNK U-BOAT Crew Waved White Flags When a U-boat was forced to the siirfnr- hv two British destroyers in the Mediterranean its crew clambered to the deck shouting and clamouring, waving red and white flags," says a rcmrt hv Lieutenant- Commander R. D. L.

Brooke. R.N.. commanding officer of The Wheatland, in company with the Easton (Lieutenant W. Malins, was on patrol when she sighted the conning-tower of the diving U-boat. After a series of heavy attacks the submarine came to the surface in the middle of a pattern of depth charges.

Both destroyers immediately opened fire, and several shells burst on the U-boat's conning-tower as the crew swarmed un from below and lined the deck. It was apparent that they were completely demoralised. The destroyers ceased Are. and with the submarine already settling her crew threw themselves mto the sea. Most of them were rescued by the destroyers.

At long last the French squadron at Alexandria has elected to join the Allies in the struggle against the Axis. Vice-Admiral Godefroy has thus finally shown himself to be possessed of a little more wisdom than that staunch supporter of Vichy Admiral Robert, the Governor of Martinique. At the same time Admiral Godefroy's reputation would have stood considerably higher with French patriots had he come to a more courageous decision in 1940. Of the ships he commands, the thirty-year-old battleship Lorraine is obsolescent and of no great fighting value, but the cruisers Suffren, Duquesne.Tour-ville. and Duguay-Trouin will be much more useful.

So also will the destroyers Basque. Forbin. and Le Fortune and the submarine Frotee. It is true that the squadron is manned bv less than 25 per cent of its full complement of officers and men, but it should not be difficult to make up the shortage from the seafaring population of French North Africa. Another difficulty is that the calibres BRIDGEHEADS DONETS ON Local Fighting Flares Up Moscow, May 31.

Fighting has flared up again around the Middle Donets bridgeheads as both sides jockey for positions ready for the expected big clash. One Berlin report to-day said that Russian forces launched two attacks in the Lisichansk area, 120 miles south-east of Kharkov, where the Red Army recently succeeded in establishing a strong bridgehead on the river's west bank. A new German attempt to force the Donets south of Balakleya, some 50 miles below Kharkov, was also reported to-day, but Soviet dispatches say that devastating fire turned the Germans back with 60 of their men killed or drowned in the river. Intense patrol activity by both sides is reported from the vital Sievsk area (the most westerly point of the front in the area). There the Russians hold a wedge gained in their winter offensive jutting into the German lines south-west of Orel Reuter.

GERMANS CLAIM ADVANCE German troops on the central front have launched an attack east of small town on the Dvina River 60 miles south-east of the advanced Russian positions at Velikiye Luki, according to a Berlin report last night. It was claimed that the attack, designed to straighten the line on a fairly large front," reached its objectives yesterday the face of stiff resistance and that the Germans held them against counter-attacks. Moscow dispatches earlier reported the repulse of a German infantry assault after a three-hour attack on the Kalinin front. This (says Reuter) extends north-west of Moscow between the Leningrad and central fronts for a considerable distance beyond Kalinin itself, an-i probsblv includes the Velish region. Allied H.Q., North Africa, May 31.

Marshal Kesselring, Axis air chief in the Mediterranean, is now inflicting such small losses on the big Allied raiding forces that observers beheve the Axis has no longer the strength to cope with the Anglo-American offensive. hen more than 100 Flying Fortresses devastation in the Naples area esicrday between thirty and fifty tishters went up to meet them the tici.gest opposition encountered for m) time. Bu, ten were shot down ithout any loss to the Fortresses. In ih- past twenty-four hours fourteen Axis 'planes have been destroyed for the loss of only one Allied aircraft. I i.

proportionate losses such as these which lead Allied observers to their iMiu-lubion But while an optimistic view of Axis air strength is held by many, more cautious quarters suggest lh.it Kesselring is conserving his air Mieneth and that he will use it only in the cvont of an emergency of the first magnitude. The Fortresses which raided Naples battered an aircraft factory, un airfield, and the harbour and marshalling y.irds. Another force i'f four-engined bombers. more than fifty United States Liberators from Middle East bases, smashed at Foggia. on the other side of the country, more than 180 miles from Naples.

20-M1NUTE BATTLE Tho strongest Axis fighter opposition for days came when Fortresses swooped over Capodichino aerodrome, just outside Naples. The fighters went up to attut.lt as the big bombers started their run over the targets, and the battle went on lor more than twenty minutes while the bombing went on. Some of the intercepting 'planes repeated the tactic of diopping bombs on the bombers from abce. but this manoeuvre again proved unsuccessful. The Fortresses sank a large motor vessel in Naples harbour and scored dirtct hits on two others.

Many fires v-ere started at Capodichino airfield, where many aircraft dispersed on the runways were destroyed by bombs strewn liberally across the aerodrome. Tne ship which was sunk was a merchantman and one of the vessels hit was a PlO-feet-long tanker. A dry dock under construction was also hit. In adiacent railway yards bombs burst on a locomotive repair depot. Two explosions from oil storage tanks and ancther great roar from the docks were) DESTROYING AXIS By our Air The Allied bombers also attacked the landing-ground at Pomibliano, in a suburb of Naples, dropping bombs among dispersed aircraft, which included a number of Me.

323's. the six-engined Axis transport 'planes. Lieutenant Robert Kowes. of Los Aneeles. who took part in this attack said There was plenty of flak coming up and smoke was pouring from fires on the cround, but we hit our target.

one of the bis Me.s, neht on the nose I could see at least twenty 'planes on the ground. I do not see how any could have escaped. Another airman said "Beth the airfield and the aircraft factory which was attacked were covered better than Vesuvius ever covered Fcmpen Lightnings which swept over Northern Sardinia bombed ships and other targets, while medium bombers and fighters mac--" attacks at intervals throughout the dav Pantelleria. Targets in Northern Sardinia included the railway junction at Chihvani (30 miles east of AlEhero and a factory at Alghero. Six ships were damaged when Lightnings attacked the port and railway yards at Aranci.

One 'plane was lost in this attack, but the pilot is known to be safe FOGGIA HAMMERED Cairo, May 31. More than fifty Liberators of the Ninth United States Air Force which bombed Foggia aerodrome in daylight covered the target with heavy bombs. Direct hits were scored on hanears and barracks and numerous aircraft on the runways and in the dispersal areas were hit. Wrecked 'planes included bic six-eneined transports. Great columns of smok sprang from oil installations and buildings which were set on fire The bombers returned without loss to their Middle East bases.

Keuter FUTURE RAIDS From our Special Correspondent Algiers, May 31. An important fact which emerges from the Naples attack is that unless the enemy is deliberately holding back defensive means of a capacity hitherto unrevealed (whether aircraft or A.A. guns or whatever secret weapon he miht have devised) attacks by Fortresses are so economical that they can be continued indefinitely, their intensity and frequency being limited only by the Allied rate of production, training of crews, petrol supplies, and the air bases available in anv given theatre. This means that in time there is hardly any limit to the scope of our air offensives. OIL RESOURCES Correspondent rout of the Afrika Korps in Libya and Tunisia, must be one of the gravest problems at present facing the Axis, now forced back on to Italian soil.

Apart from the petrol and oil which have been obtained from Albania and transported from the Bay of Valona to refineries at Bari. Leghorn, and elsewhere. Italy has to rely on supplies brought from Germany's synthetic oil plants. The great raids in the past few weeks on various target; in the Ruhr must have seriously interfered with the southward transport of the fuel, and this severance of the vital link is now being amplified by the repeated on the main oil centres in Italy. The wresting of air power from the enemy in the Mediterranean zone has brought the destruction of the "tap root measurably nearer, for the vulnei-ab and vitally important oil plants and storage deppts which are not always easy to locate at night but cannot be hidden in the day-time are now wide open to Allied bombers, even when unescorted by fighters, as the most recent raids have revealed.

Official report on back page CHINESE SUCCESS ON THE YANGTZE Five Enemy Divisions in Peril Chungking, May 3L Heartening land and air successes for the Chinese counter-offensive launched along the wide Yangtze River front in Central China following the recapture by the Chinese cf Yuyangkwan, the "gateway to Chungking," are announced in two communiques to-night Two Chinese armies are closing on the outskirts- of Changyang. the important Japanese base about 30 miles south-west of the former treaty port of Ichang, 4 HUNAN WILIS -TOWff77Nffl 100 The nor-stop air offensive on Italy, brought to another stage bv Sunday's daylight attacks on Foggia and Naples, hai two main purposes. One is to immobilise in the quickest possible time the Axis air forces, which must be undergoing emergency readjustments and distribution The other aim is to crumple what was once described by Mr. Churchill as the lap root of the enemy's mechanised power the oil resources which are needed for the armoured divisions, the army transport, ah forces, and the submarine fleets of the enemy. In the raid on Leghorn made by 100 Fortresses on Friday the great fires which were started were undoubtedly due to oil storage depots and -refineries being struck, and again today's North Atrica communique reports large explosions occurring when the oil storage depot at Naples was bombed on Sunday.

Fuel dumps at Foggia were also struck in the attack carried out by the U.SA..A.F. Shortage of fuel, which was a contrf-fcutory factor in the final defeat and.