NAZIS' OIL STOCKS FURTHER DEPLETED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 304, 23 December 1940, Page 8

NAZIS' OIL STOCKS FURTHER DEPLETED.

BRITISH RAWS. • Huge Fires Seen To Blaze : Fiercely. British Official Wireless. (Reed. 1.30 p.m.) RUfiBY. Dec. 22. ; The weather conditions which the ; Rovhl Air Force bombers encountered I over the Ruhr and Central (ierinany » last night worn morn varied Ihan i those which the early-hound pilots I experienced. At certain linie.-s and places completely opaque cloud made navigation very difficult, but elsewhere the bombers were able to find - factories, aerodromes, railway stations, goods yards, docks, synthelie oil plants, and oil stores open to HJTattack during , intervals of eompara- ■_ tively clear weather. *j v it was certainly bright when much was done to deplete (Jermany'e stocks of oil. The oil storage depot* at Rotterdam were raided by medium and lienvy bombers sit intervals durirg the * night. In these attack* a number of L'olish pilots took part. Fires were started which could be seen 30 miles ■..away. At Oelseiikirchen the synthetic oil "Jflaritfl Imriied even more fiercely, and • at one of these plants, although the air—era ft was Hying high, the pilots could — e<?e debris shoot into the. air after the explosion of ii number of high explosive {" Wombs. Olser.kirehen was raided just • before dawn, and in excellent weather. J This was one of the moet successful . raids of the night, though almost as I much damage was done to synthetic oil plants at Wesseling and-Cologne. ; In central Germany a very large fac- ; tory building, the si? e of which a pilot • judged by comparing it with a hangar ; and finding it four times as big, was j hit twice. The whole of the roof apj peared to be lifted from its supports t into the air. A smaller building was • completely disintegrated. Mannheim also received a brief visit, and bursts could be seen on industrial targets. At Miilheim, near Cologne, hangars were set well alight.

Several invasion ports were successfully bombed in clear weather. At Calais a pilot saw severe damage, done to a jetty when bombs fell on the quay. At Ostentl there Were, many fires; which .gradually merged into one and shone ;far out to sea. At Flushing very early ■in the evening boml»s fell on the docks.