Help for Russia

This week the British finally felt sure they were lending fighting aid to Russia for the spring campaign. Over the continent the weather had lain thick, and for a week Britain's long-range bombers had squatted glumly in their dispersal stations with no place to go. Handier ships--light bombers and pursuits--went out whenever there was a break. They picked at the pock-marked townson the invasion coast, ranged east to the Frisians off the Netherlands' coast, where they scratched a convoy and lost five planes.

At week's end the weather opened up enough for larger flights to operate. From the southern English coast Britons watched them wheeling over, then heard from the coast of France the intermittent crash of their bombs. It was one of the heaviest raids the invasion coast had ever stood. To R.A.F. men who think a good blitz is likely to be more effective than a second front in Europe, it was also one of the most significant:

German fighters were back in France in force. For once R.A.F. pilots were glad to see them. Eight RA.F. fighters were shot down (and nine German), but the price was low. More important was the fact that the Germans, after weeks of token fighter resistance, now had plenty of pursuit in the air. To the R.A.F. that meant that the blitz was beginning to help their Rus-sian ally as well as hurting their German enemy in his industrial and military establishments. They were sure that some of the fighters they met over France came from Russia. They were also sure a lot more would have to be pulled off the Eastern Front to meet the biggest aerial assault in military history.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.