TNA ADM 199 788 A

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Criticisms.
Personal remarks by bed Richardon 345
way of general criticism are:-
The points that I would like to bring home in the
(1) When being bombed in daylight and at night it is apparently
the Army training for the men to lie over on their faces in
a huddled heap and to await the completion of the air raid.
I consider that if one lies over on one's face during an air
raid, one gets the impression that the bombs when falling with
very horrid shrieking noises are each and all coming to land
right in the small of one's back. There is little doubt that
the Army were considerably cowed by the bombing and I do feel
that this form of inactivity during a raid is psychologically
e
bad. I would have thought it better that the men be trained to
stand up and take cover and loose off their rifles and anyhow
look at the bomber, especially by day. It appeared to us obvious
which aircraft was going to be anywhere near us and which was
JT.
going to be miles away, while to watch the Army lying down with
their faces to the ground with the bombs shrieking, one could
see that they were going through a tricky time by being in such
a position. I saw no sign, except in one very isolated case,
of any of the Naval ratings being at all genuinely upset by
the bombing. Machine-gunning, though, was quite embarrassing.
I thought the pom pom fire of the Fleet and 4" barrage
fire (2) to be most effective and consistent. The absence of
fighters was a source of great discussion and in many cases
words. Although the reason for the absence of fighters it is
bitter been explained by the prime Minister, I do feel that over
has right to have a few bombers directly no doubt
psychologically part in such an operation. There is but as
the that men when taking fighters were present bombers did not come, soon,