PITCHED BATTLE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 64, Issue 147, 1 April 1944, Page 3

PITCHED BATTLE

IN THE SKY OVER NUREMBERG. GREAT NAZI FIGHTER'STRENGTH NEW “SCARECROW ROCKETS.” (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec. 1.50 p.m.) LONDON, Mar. 31. For three hours last night there was a pitched battle between the largest number of German fighters ever put up and a very strong force of Lancasters and Halifaxes attacking Nuremburg. Warned by the complete destruction of almost the whole of the administrative and commercial area at Frankfurt on the night of March 22, the Germans appeared to put up the greater part of their entire force of night fighters. Although it was cloudy over most of the roitte there were many clear patches both on the way to the city and the return journey. With bright moonlight above the clouds, the attack began a little after 1 a.m. and for an hour, until the moon set, the bitterest fighting since the battle of Germany began took place. Nuremburg is not so far away front the home bases as Berlin, but to reach it the bombers had to fly over (iOO miles over one of the most heavilydefended areas of Germany.

One pilot said that looking down from his Lancaster he could see vapour trails of about a score of bombers flying below. The enemy could track the British planes down by these trails and with the help of the moon fast fighters seemed to have been waiting for the bombers on the outskirts of the Ruhr. It was there that the battle began in earnest. While enemy searchlights raced across gaps in the sky in the hope of picking up any bomber that might have strayed off its course, the fighters flew into attack. Another pilot commented: “It was not safe to relax for a moment and I certainly was glad to see Nuremburj» Things got very hot over the target, strangely enough, for although the Germans had plenty of fighters up, there was cloud to interfere with their searchlights and flak was not so heavy as we expected. The enemy’s defences also included a new type of scarecrow rocket shot up from the ground.” Another Lancaster pilot, speaking of these rockets, said: “We saw them after we got into Germany and over the target. They came up like flares, hung in the sky, then burst and scattered on the ground like clusters of incendiaries. The explosion of one of them as it hit the ground looked almost as if a 1000-pounder were going off." —British Official Wireless.