Text Version


 
 to hold the air for more than a couple of months at the outside, and he
 feared that the British could not be counted on for any effective action.
        La Chambre added that he now had the exact figures with regard 
 to the number of planes that the British could put in the air at this moment.
 The British had told tall stories about their production. The truth was that
 the British had today of the most modern types only 480 pursuit planes and
 about 500 bombers. Furthermore, the British pilots, with comparatively few ex-
ceptions, were so ill-trained that he did not know how effective they would be.
 He stated that in the raid against the Kiel Canal, a dozen British bombers had
taken part. Two had been shot down; but four had got lost flying to Kiel and
 had crashed in Germany.  Moreover, two of the air raid warnings in Paris had been
caused by British planes which had lost their way and had flown over the city.
        There were two vital questions for French aviation. First, whether or not 
the French pursuit planes could prevent the bombardment of French plane factories;
second, whether or not the French could produce sufficient motors, He was
 doubtful about both points. 
       Daladier, a couple of days ago, expressed a much more pessimistic view to me.
 He said that he felt
                   
 
 
View Original View Previous Page View Next Page Return to Folder IndexReturn to Box Index