'S NOTEBOOK A SPECTATOR
THERE is one aspect of the flying bomb business which needs a little emphasis ; that is the part played by the Americans in com- bating this plague. It is not so much a matter of bringing down the projectiles themselves as of attacking the installations in Northern France. Far more sorties against that objective have, I believe, been flown by Americans than by the R.A.F. In a way, there is nothing in that. This is one war, and whatever needs to be done is done by the national forces most readily available for that particular job. But here is a form of attack aimed particularly at the civilian population of England, and when we as civilians owe so' much in this particular field to our American Allies, who risk— and sacrifice—their lives in our defence, it is but'bare' decency to acknowledge the debt, and to clothe the acknowledgement with some warmth and cordiality. As to the flying bombs, by the way, while they have done singularly little to hold up pro- duction or affect the general tenor of life in England, they seem likely to have one consequence which may gratify Hitler a little. The hopping season is approaching, and the hop-growers are wonder- ing with considerable anxiety whether the hoppers will feel quite the normal zest for the usual excursion to regions where the bombs are being shot down methodically in large numbers to explode on or near the ground ; they could be forgiven for preferring more healthy neighbourhoods. (No geographical disclosure is involved here ; anyone with a school atlas can see where a line drawn from the Pas de Calais to London runs.)
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