RAID ON CASSEL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 283, 11 September 1941, Page 5

RAID ON CASSEL.

FIRES BEYOND COUNTING. NAZI LEADERS LEAVE BERLIN. LONDON, September 10. “Fires beyond counting,” as one observer put it, wore caused when the Royal Air Force bombed Casscl in force on Monday night. The town is a centre of heavy industries and many of its factories are given over to the production of war materials. / Several main railway lines meet in the town and carry its products to the fronts on which the Germans are fighting. The attack was sharp, .sudden, and heavy, the Air Ministry says. Even before- the main force of bombers arrived, there were many fires to signal immediate success. As the attack progressed, the British crews reported, great destruction was caused. Railway sheds were gutted and factory buildings were ablaze. Viewed from a great height, many of the fires seemed exceptionally vivid. Up to 5000 feet there were swirls and eddies of smoko. The bursting of one stick of bombs was followed by a rush of dense white steam as though a boiler-house had been hit. At times there was so much smoko that the effect of individual bombs could not be seen. At other times the fires increased by leaps and bounds as the bombs exploded. Casscl was defended both from the ground and in the air. One bomber, from 350 feet, machine-gunned and silenced a battery of eight light antiaircraft guns and another drove off an enemy fighter. After two bursts the pear gunner saw it swerve and dive away, apparently out of control. The R.A.F. also attacked targets at Munster, and other objectives in Western Germany, as well as the docks at Cherbourg. British and Russian bombing has made Berlin too hot for the Nazi leaders, and most of the foreign Ambassadors and Ministers, who are now living at least 20 or 30 miles outside the capital. This was reported by a neutral diplomat on arrived in London 10 days after leaving Germany. The absence of the Nazi chiefs has aroused bitter comment in Berlin, whore the popularity of Roichsmarshal Goering, who, promised that the capital would not be raided, diminishes with every attack.

Berlin’s A'.TLP. chief is reported to have been sacked because of the rising public feeling; His successor was forced to appeal to Berliners not having adequate shelters to build their own at the Government’s expense.