BOMBING OF BERLIN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 290, 14 September 1940, Page 3

BOMBING OF BERLIN

STRONG RAIDS ELSEWHERE.

HUGE FIRE AT BREMEN, (United Press Association.—Copyright) LONDON, September 12. ' Berliners did not spend as cheerful a night as Londoners. Strong forces of Royal Air Force bombers attacked Berlin railway stations, marshalling yards, and the city’s main aerodrome. The first bombs were dropped three minutes before midnight. Heavy bombs were dropped on the marshalling yards south of the Potsdam station, which was also attacked. A little later the Anhalter station was bombed for the second night in succession. The marshalling yard was straddled by a stick of highexplosive bombs, which were followed by incendiaries. Bomb after bomb was seen to strike the target. Anti-aircraft guns in the Tiergarton, Berlin’s Hyde Park, were also attacked by a formation of bombers, while other machines turned south to attack the Templehof aerodrome. While the raids on Berlin were going on, strong forces carried out raids on concentrations of barges and shipping, which the Germans are assembling all along the European coast in preparation for an invasion of Britain.

Bombing of Hamburg. Details of the raid on Hamburg show that for nearly four hours relays ol aircraft of the Bomber Command kept up an almost continuous assault on harbour installations, shipbuilding yards and dock basins. The first aircraft reached the scene shortly after 9 p.m on Wednesday, and started a fire in the docks which served as a beacon to the following raiders. Later, as the at tack developed, othdr great fires were set burning in the docks area, and to the west and fibrtli-west of the city. A series of direct bits was scored on jetties and docks to the east and west of the , great Blohm Voss shipbuilding yards.By 10.45 p.m. the visibility, which had been good at the beginning of the raid, had and a bomber coming in from the sea- to launch an attack found the target covered by low-lying cloud, above which antiaircraft shells could be seen bursting. Then the cloud cleared over the northern half of Hamburg, enabling the pilot to make for the docks and release liis entire load in a single run across the target.

At 1 a.m. on Thursday, the crew ol the “last aircraft detailed for the attack could see a huge fire blazing while they were still 40 miles away from Hamburg. Over the docks they dropped a stick of heavy bombs across a line of shipbuilding yards, but though the explosion of their bombs was seen it was impossible for them to assess the damage caused because of the dazzling glow of the great fire burning beneath them.

At Bremen the same programme was carried out. The raid here lasted for two hours, great fires being started. “Bremen is on fire and what a fire!” ibid one pilot after his return. “After we had dropped our stuff, great fires began to spring up. We let go all our bombs, and because of the anti-aircraft barrage Bremen was no place to loiter in.”

The fire at Bremen was seen by pilots attacking Emden. All the buildings were outlined and the bomber crews could see cracks opening in the walls and roofs. The pilot of one machine, which was in the vicinity for an hour and a quarter, said the fire looked bad enough from 10,000 feet, but from the ground it must have been an inferno. The fire at Bremen could be seen by pilots on their way to attack Berlin, while the glow could also be seen as far away as Heligoland and the Ger-man-Dutch frontier.

The observer of a Royal Air Force aeroplane said that fires blazing all over" the targets .at Bremen made a solid triangle of flame, one side of which must have been two miles long.

Fires were raging in all parts ol Ostend when the raid was on. It ended after nearly four hours. Two huge explosions sent up a column of black smoke, which pierced the cloud-layer 10,000 feet over the harbour. Key railway stations in Belgium and Germany were attacked. A bridge across the Rhine at Cologne was set on fire, and at Coblenz the railway yards were hit and fires were followed by a series of explosions as though an ammunition train had been destroyed. - The Air Ministry news service stated that a Czech bomber squadron formed in England raided enemy territory for the first time when it participated in a successful attack on a railway goods yards.—British Official Wireless.

SPECIFIC TARGETS RAIDED. ✓ IMPRESSIVE SCALE OF ATTACKS, ACTIVITY DURING THIS MONTH. * LONDON, September 12. The impressive scale of recent Royal Air Force attacks on military objectives can best be appreciated from a summary of the number of raids on specific targets. From the beginning of September up, to Wednesday morning—the period during which the brunt of the Nazi attack has'fallen on London —the Royal Air Force has carried out 28 separate attacks on Germaipoeoupied aerodromes in France, 18 on German aerodromes, 10 on, aerodromes in Holland, and two on aerodromes in Belgium, during which many high explosive bombs wore dropped, hits being secured on hangatrs. There were in this period 15 raids on forests concealing military objectives. Great tracts of the Black Forest were set ablaze, and equal success was achieved in the Thuringian Forest, the Oberharz Forest, and forests near Berlin.

Thirty-five attack's wore made on the German rail system, including the large Potsdam station at Berlin, and considerable damage was caused to marshalling yards, sidings,, and tracks.

Twenty-nine raids wep'e made oti German and German-occupied docks and shipyards, where' big fires and explosions were caused. Twelve raids were made on barge, concentrations, five on canal and river systems, 14 on munition works (among which was the Krupp works), eight on aircraft works (including tbei R.M.S. faictojry at Munich), 16 on oil refineries, and nine on power stations. The West CharlottenInirg power station near Berlin was ; bombed for two successive nights, many direct hits and numerous flashes and explosions resulting. Seven attacks were made on gun emplacements on the French coast, and 11 attacks on shipping. There w'fiio three attacks bn Italian objectives, including an aero engine works at Turin and many other varied military objectives, including gasworks, blast furnaces, and light installations.—-British Official Wireless.