10,000 BOMB CASUALTIES, SAYS CHURCHILL. Over 2,000 civilians killed and 8,000 injured in the first half of September from air bombardments, four-fifths of those in the London area. By contrast, the prime minister told the House of Commons Tuesday that the total casualties for all British fighting forces in the same two-week period was 250. Raymond Daniell of the New York Times says Mr. Churchill’s remarks emphasized "what is all too tragically apparent here, that in this new kind of war the civilian has become the primary military objective." Not that it will ever work, says Mr Churchill, as he ridiculed German "hopes of terrorizing the civilian population into submission" as well as "the silly idea that [the raids] will put pressure upon the Government to make peace."
ITALIAN FORCES TAKE SIDI BARRANI. There’s no good news so far from Italy’s latest African campaign -- her troops have so far advanced sixty miles into Egypt and cracked two British lines of defense. According to the Associated Press, the Fascist army has chased British tank units out of the coastal city of Sidi Barrani, "reaching the beginning of an asphalt road leading 350 miles eastward to the Suez Canal, vital link of Britain’s empire lifeline." The attackers have taken two other towns, Sollum and Buqbuq, and 45,000 Italians are said to be to be encamped at the former. The A.P. puts Italy’s total strength in the offensive at 260,000 men, many of whom are still in Libya awaiting orders to join the offensive.
Allen Raymond writes in Wednesday’s New York Herald Tribune that the fierce fighting at Sidi Barrani was made much harder by the conditions -- "Italian correspondents on the Egyptian battleground have wired to their newspapers that the battle was being fought in a temperature of 106 degrees Fahrenheit, and that the sand blown about the combatants made visibility difficult along the ground."
BAD WEATHER FOR AIR RAIDS. Speaking of the weather, winds of gale force helped blunt the impact of a ten-hour Nazi air raid on Britain Wednesday, according to the Associated Press (the Washington Post headlined the story, "British Fight Raids in Hurricane"). Waves of 200 Nazi warplanes were repulsed as they successively tried to attack the city through the winds and through rain squalls over the English Channel, but as the weather abated more Nazi bombers returned to score hits on the central part of the city. And the wind had one terrible effect for the British, fanning large fires in the city’s East End.
But the British will get plenty of help from the weather in the months ahead, says the Chicago Tribune. In an interview with a U.S. Weather Bureau forecaster, the Tribune reports that "from now until late in March the British Isles will have the protection of fog, rain, and rough seas in the English channel against Nazi invasion. Because of the south-eastward movement of the Bermuda-Azores high pressure area, which shunts storms away from Britain during the warmer months, southern England will have cloudy weather seven out of every ten days from now through October, and cloudy or foggy skies eight of every ten days in February.
BERLIN GETS A BREAK FROM RAIDS. C.B.S. correspondent William Shirer, just returned to his Berlin broadcasts after a week’s absence, mentioned the bad weather last night, but spent more time explaining why Berliners are suddenly less concerned about British air raids over their city -- "they’re not having many." Apparently the R.A.F. has visited the Nazi capital only once over the last six nights, after an initial series of raids during the previous two weeks. Mr. Shirer says that his German acquaintances greet him by remarking that "they’re sleeping normally again."
BRITISH DEFENSE OF EGYPT IS VITAL. Hanson W. Baldwin writes in Wednesday’s New York Times that the Italian offensive to seize Egypt from its British defenders is probably close in importance to the Battle of Britain itself --
"As Egypt goes, so may go the Arab world. If Egypt falls, the British supply lines through the Suez Canal-Red Sea-Gulf of Aden area will be severed. If they are severed and the Italian flag flies above the Egyptian naval bases, it is most unlikely that British naval forces could any longer be maintained in the eastern Mediterranean. If these things occur, the consequences are incalculable. The oil fields of the Near East would lie at the mercy of the Axis powers; the Balkan nations, still clinging to a precarious neutrality but already under the economic or political domination of Germany, would become puppet States in all but name. Under such circumstances a British victory would seem to be impossible; the island kingdom might still stave off invasion and avert crushing defeat, but its chance of acquiring allies – and of eventual victory over Germany – would probably have ended."
Can Britain hold off the Italian advance? From what Mr. Baldwin writes, it doesn’t look promising so far. He puts British and allied troop strength at only one-fourth to one-half of what the Italians have, and so far the Italians are advancing at a rate of ten miles a day. But Britain may have an ally in the climate – "The British defense strategy appears to be based on the tactics of harassing the stronger Italians, of allowing them, against a stiffening resistance, to push gradually farther and farther into the inhospitable desert, and then to attack their supply lines. In a country were the temperature still is 110 to 120 degrees, and where water holes and oases are far apart, such tactics could be a real threat." Here’s to hoping. Despite the speed of the Italian advance so far, the Italians are taking a cautious approach, and it looks like it’ll be some time before we know how this latest battle is going. But rest assured the British understand that, unlike the fight in Somaliland, they can’t afford to lose this time.
BRITISH ADVERTISE CURES FOR WAR WORRIES. The New York Herald Tribune has a front-page story Wednesday full of quotations from British newspapers, illustrating how the British are bearing up under the air raids. The Herald Tribune notes in particular how editors and advertisers have seize the opportunity to pronounce various ways of helping ordinary Britons cure war-related ills --
"On air raid nights avoid headaches caused by gunfire noise. Two tablets (or one powder) of Cephos taken on entering an air raid shelter will enable you to avoid a headache."
"Siren tummy is the latest complaint. It is mild – but a nuisance....There are two ways of dealing with this. If you care to, you can take a mild sedative for the nervous system. Alternatively, you can wait a day or two until you are thoroughly used to the raids – and you will find that the feeling passes entirely."
"Defeat din with Aurax ear protectors. Subdue loud noises but enable you to hear warnings or ordinary conversations."
"Sleep gets broken up nowadays. Millions have to take it in short snatches. How to drop off smoothly and yet be fresh and alert on awakening has puzzled many. Aspro provides the answer."
"A.R.P. half the night. Shopping all the day. Your feet feel the brunt of it. Release them from pain and weariness with Panacel Ointment."
The bombings seem to provide other opportunities. One British paper records the court testimony of one woman – "Whenever the siren sounds my husband always hurries to the shelter. I didn’t think he was so nervous as he made out. One night I followed him and found him sitting with a girl’s head on his shoulder."
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