THOUSANDS OF TONS OF BOMBS DROPPED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 167, 17 July 1941, Page 7

THOUSANDS OF TONS OF BOMBS DROPPED

GERMANY SUFFERS

Some Fighters Withdraw From Soviet Front

Ofßvia] Wireless. Rec j.."0 p.m. RI'GBY. July 16. Figures ii'uv.rating the increasing imcn.-itv of the bombardment of Germain s indus-trial machine and means of tran-p-.n were made available to-day v. ht-n si was revealed lb.at between June 10 and July 10 nearly 10(H) ton? oi bombs had been dro >ped on Cologne, and over 500 tons on Bremen in the same period. The industrial Ruhr received over 2000 tons.

Daylight targets in Northern France consist of industrial plants and power stations used by the Germans. Thus, at l.ille. two of the three power stations supplying the industries of that town have been attacked and substantially put. out of action. K.A.F.'s Daylight Sweeps One of ihe mo.-t interesting features of R.A.F. operations undertaken in daylight over enemy territory has been a series of sweeps sometimes carried out twice in a day. Those following the fortunes of these offensive measures may have noticed that more recently there has been an indication that R.A.F. fighters have encountered somewhat increased opposition. Such, in fact, is the case.

Pilots report that hostile aircraft are met with in far preater numbers than was the case in earlier sweep®. This is regarded as highly satisfactory evidence that one of the main purposes of these patrols is succeeding.

W hen Germany attacked Russia the day fighter strength of the Western Front diminished sensibly both in quantity and quality. The fact of increased resistance means that many of these fighter squadrons have returned from the Eastern r ront in order to endeavour to deal with the R.A.F.'s menace.

It is not too much to say that several hundred Nazi fighters" would be available for use against the Russians were it not for these sweeos carried out by the RAF