BERLINERS AWED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 282, 27 November 1940, Page 5

BERLINERS AWED.

DARING R.A.F. RAIDS, r I I HEAVY BLOWS ON CITY. « _____ « c LONDON, September 30. < Berlin has been amazed and awed by 1 tbe daring of the R.A.F.'s night raidera. Visitors who have returned here say ( that British machines have swooped to , a height of only 500 ft over the heart of the city. Despite the terrific barrage they have kept their wing-tip light** burning lest their close formation ( should lead to collisions, states the "Daily Mail's" Stockholm correspondent. Hitler's vanity is costing the population dear. Tho R.A.F. have a readymade guiding line in the east to west highway leading to the Brandenburger Tor. British bombers circle high till they •pot the start of this highway. Then they know that by following it for 36 kilometre* they will be above the Brandenburger Tor, with Goebbels house to the right and the Wilhelmatrasse just ahead. Further evidence to-day stresses the •ffectiveness of the R.A.F. blows. Gocring appeals to A.R.P. wardens and householders to extinguish inccndiaries more quickly. Hitler opens his cellars to shelter four large army lorry-loads of children, and provides nurses for them. Schools are opening two hours later, offices one hour later after the night raids. Loach-hoar Ifaps. The population are having to sleep in their lunch hours. All Germans leaving the country for business or other reasons are made first to swear that they will not divulge anything of conditions within Germany, particularly in regard to air raid damage. A neutral traveller from Hamburg, however, stated that it took him three (Lad a half days to cross Germany to

the south. He had been forced to alight r>2 times, either owing to air raids or t damaged railway lines. a The population of the entire northwest of Germany, he stated, bitterly ci comment on Berlin radio reports of n R.A.F. damage the morning after the c R.A.F. have been over. o The radio proclaims that insignificant damage has been done to farm houses t and residential zones, the traveller de- d clared, whereas the people in the dis- j tricts mentioned can see for themselves the nightly devastation the R.A.F. are i causing in these industrial areas. The "Stockholms Tidningen" Berlin t correspondent reports great fires in the 6 north and east of Berlin. Goering's Promise. 1 Streets are closed, he says, and thou- ' ' sands are evacuating dangerous districts ( or sleeping in offices on mattresses and ' blankets. ' Foreign correspondents are now for-) 1 bidden to report raid details until after 1 the issue of the official versions. Messages from other neutral corres- ! pondents show that after Goering's promise that the R.A.F. could not reach Berlin, the raids have badly shaken the ' population. ' The Madrid "El Pueblo" report says: ' "After a week's lull people had come to s , the conclusion that Berlin was invul--1 nerable, particularly when they under- " stood that Goering was 'very angry* over the British air raids on Berlin and s had given assurances that they would not be repeated. g "But," adds the correspondent, "the . R.A.F. kept on proving from 11.30 on Monday night until 3.30 in the morning r that Berlin was not invulnerable." ( Senor Serrano Suner, the Spanish ' Minister of the Interior, whom the Germans are seeking to impress with "» their prospects of victory, had to spend t the night in one of Berlin's air raid shelters. The attack, according to the "Tribune de Geneve," exceeded in violence any| " yet. experienced. "For almost four hours a terrific antiT aircraft barrage raged. Twelve R.A.F. * bombers broke through .he ring of fire '* and dropped bombs in many districts. r < "Fires broke out in all parts of the city. Fire brigades dashed wildly everywhere." I, Admissions of the success of the raid e are creeping into German official reo porta.

It was revealed by the German radio that R.A.F. planes had reached the central part of Berlin. "The German ground defences intercepted the British over the western and northern suburbs and only a few succeeded in penetrating to the inner part of Berlin," it was stated. "A western suburb was brightly lit by flares," it was added, "and incendiaries were dropped on a military hospital marked with the Red Cross sign." The Air Ministry bulletin describing Tuesday night's raid on Berlin stated: Heavy bombers of the R.A.F. carried the war into the German capital for the second. nigtit In succession. A number of military objectives in the heart of Berlin were singled out and attacked in a raid which lasted for ; lover two and a half hours. ' I' began shortly after 10.30 p.m., 'when the first of the attackers, evading . Ithe intense barrage of the city's ground . defences, located and bombed the great Siemens and Halske factories, which produce a large proportion of the electrical equipment used by the German 1 armed forces. i More Fires. Two great fires were seen to break : out in the target area after the bomb- ' ing. At 1 a.m. to-day an attack was made " on Berlin's electric power transforms and switching station at Friedrichsfelde which supplies much of the city a in- * dustrial current. Sticks of high explosive bombs of a e heavy calibre were seen to burst across 1 the plant. ? a foundry in the south-eastern suburbs was struck, causing a large fire tc h break out. e Two sticks of bombs were dropped h across & canal bridge two miles south--1 west of the Tempelhof, Berlin's mail d airport. e ' y Appealing to it* staff to help m avoid i- ing the loss of so many linan and textih articles from its trains, the London, Mid e land and Scottish Railway Co. disclose: the startling fact that a recent censui ie showed losses during the last 12 monthi y of over 3000 sheets, 18,000 towel a, 12,00< pillow-cases, 2300 rugs and more thai d 20,000 antimacassars! These, figures ari s- undoubtedly serious, especially in thesi '•conomical time#.