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The Germans naturally have as one object the annihilation 
      of the productive capacity of Britain's war enterprises. Their 
      attacks upon the operatives in this industry and the latter's 
      families has proven itself as being one effective method of achieving 
      this object. Indeed, recognition of German successes in this 
      field has for the last few weeks turned the minds of local industrialists 
      to the thought not of reprisal but rather of a like attack for 
      like purposes upon the working classes of Germany.
 
      
 
 
It is true enough that working-class people in this area make 
      e brave showing before the camera or to the eye of the official 
      visitor. However, when the camera shutter has closed and the 
      official eye has turned away, the picturesque scene vanishes 
      and the smiling faces of those who figured in it assume a grimness 
      born almost of despair. It is not the casual observer who sees 
      what air raiding is doing to Midland working-class people. But 
      the man or woman who daily hears from the very lips of these 
      people their simply told stories can discern not only how widespread 
      and deep se %ated their tragedy is but can also estimate how that 
      tragedy is impeding Great Britain's war effort.
 
      
 
 
The individual Birmingham area working man whose family has 
      been driven from his home may not be able to see very far In 
      any given direction. But he does see what has happened to his 
      family, to his neighbor's family, what has happened at his plant 
      and in his neighbors' plants. Perhaps it would not be significant 
      what these individual workmen say if there were not such a uniformity 
      about it. And what they, one and all, do say is that whether 
      Britain will be defeated depends entirely upon the volume and 
      time-lines of American aid. These individual workmen know what 
      their job is. They know what it means for the machine which they 
      operate to be destroyed. They see about them the effects of air 
      raiding not only upon themselves but also upon the plants in 
      which they are employed. Their very hope, therefore, that the 
      situation will be saved by the United States is significant and 
      their trust that it will be saved by that country is the foundation 
      upon which that hope entirely rests.
 
      
 
 
Very truly yours,
 
      James R. Wilkenson
 
      American Consul