Must Britain Take It?

An effulgent moon lighted the way to German U-boat yards at Flensburg on the Baltic. Munich, Naziism's spawning ground, and the Saar industrial basin were also raided. Swiss reports said that damage to Munich had caused the cancellation of a big Nazi party.

The knowledge that the R.A.F. was hammering at Germany's pride, as well as at her industry, was a reminder to many Britons that their own island, at any time, might suffer a revengeful onslaught from the Luftwaffe. Last week's dispatches from Moscow and London reported three new German planes in action:

> The Heinkel 177 is a 35-ton bomber powered by four 1,200-h.p. Hirth air-cooled engines. It is believed to have an eight-ton bomb capacity at normal range (about 500 miles), a top speed of 300 m.p.h.*The presumption is that it would be as effective in bombing Britain as the Lancaster, Britain's best heavy bomber, is in raiding Germany. But the Germans have yet to prove that they can turn out 177s in great quantities.

> Russians said the Germans had a new fighter over Stalingrad, the Messerschmitt 109-G, powered by a liquid-cooled motor, mounting three cannon and two machine guns, effective as high as 40,000 feet. Such a plane would be formidable against Britain, too, because the British Spitfire's efficiency declines above 30,000 feet.

> A pressure cabin Junkers 86-P was reported to have been used over Britain. A bomber reconnaissance plane, it is said to have a 40,000-ft. ceiling.

Two years had passed since the R.A.F.'s overstrained pilot fighters broke the Luftwaffe's back (on Sept. 15, 1940 they downed 185 German planes) and the first Battle of Britain waned. The Luftwaffe was a weapon designed as the Army's air arm, not primarily for mass raids. Its attack on Britain was a none-too-brilliant job of improvisation. Since then German aircraft production has kept abreast of the Army's needs, but it is doubtful if Germany has been able to develop the heavy-bomber production which Britain and the U.S. achieved only after prolonged travail. Nonetheless the British are preparing for the worst. (When Prime Minister Churchill boasted that British aircraft production exceeded German output, a British official plaintively observed: "How the hell does he know?") They have dug deep, well-equipped raid shelters, which London sorely lacked in 1940-41. Techniques of fire fighting, rescue work, food distribution and civilian rehabilitation have been tested and perfected. Ack-ack defenses are said to be 40% more effective than in 1940, night-fighter protection 100% better. Britain is ready.

* Lord Beaverbrook's son, R.A.F. Wing Commander Max Aitken, has said he believes the 177 has a 2,000-mile range with 1 1/2-ton load. If so, it could probably fly the Atlantic with a half-ton load for token raids on the U.S.

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