RAIDS ON ITALY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 230, 9 July 1943, Page 3

RAIDS ON ITALY

SICILIAN AIRFIELDS. HEAVY ALL-DAY ATTACKS. NO ENEMY OPPOSITION. (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, July S. In the Mediterranean our aircraft have been carrying out heavy all-day attacks on the group of airfields around Gerbini, Sicily. Yesterday the air assault on these aerodromes reached a new peak of intensity with 19 separate raids. It was the third successive day of concentrated attack by heavy bombers on this important group of airfields and installations. A correspondent says the enemy yesterday was either worried or smothered so completely that not a single attacking machine came up. This was all the more remarkable because on Monday 100 fighters defended these targets. Palermo was also bombed yesterday ■as well as an objective on the southern coast of the island and three other objectives. Sardinia is getting its share of bombs, and three airfields there have been pounded by Royal Air Force Wellington. All these raids cost us five aircraft. The enemy lost 10.” Growing in Momentum. The Allied bombing against the Axis ring of aerodromes in Sicily and Sardinia is growing in momentum. The Columbia Broadcasting System’s Algiers correspondent says attacks went on all night on Tuesday, when the enemy resistance was most feeble. ' A photographic reconnaissance reveals that Palermo, as a result of Allied bombing, is a total wreck and useless for military purposes, but on Tuesday night Royal Air Force Wellingtons went to Palermo to make sure and dropped high explosives on the railway yards. The Berlin radio has broadcast a new Italian labour agreement for areas in Italy liable to air raids. It provides for the ending of work by sunset, loans by employers to workers to evacuate their families and payment for workers in bombed-out factories.