MIGHTY BLOWS AT GERMAN WAR PUNTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 80, 5 April 1943, Page 4

MIGHTY BLOWS AT GERMAN WAR PUNTS

KRUPPS, RENAULT

Six 40001b Bombs Fell Every Minote At Essen N.Z.P.A. and British Wireless 7. Rec. 2.30 p.m. LONDON, April 4. Ie "Bomber Command last night a- made a heavy and concentrated attack on Essen. The weather was clear and good results were seen, r- Twenty-one bombers are missing," w states the Air Ministry communique. ir Bombs hit the great Krupps works, n says the Air Ministry news service. Ie At one stage of the attack six 40001b bombs were falling every minute. '1- Within half an hour, a huge pall of g smoke had rolled over the city and n many fires were burning fiercely d underneath. ls Many crews spoke of the tremenL ? dous explosions, which seemed "just ~ as if somebody had thrown gallons of petrol on a fire." There were two such explosions. § Photographs taken during the s attack show that the vast Krupps e works were hit again. 'They were y badly damaged during two attacks last month, but there are 800 acres = of them and the Germans had made an obvious effort to save the rest. 1 There were more guns, more searchY lights and more night fighters de- | fending the city than ever before. , A pilot who has taken part in 28 ■" sorties over Germany said he "had never seen a more spectacular de- ■ fence." The target area was covered with glittering white lights I from incendiary bombs and search--7 lights working in cones of about 30 t each. As soon as a cluster spotted 1 an aircraft. it held on to it with its E beam. Then another cone would 2 take it on. It was as if the planes ; were being tossed from one to an--1 other. There was a slight ground 1 haze last night, but the sky above : the city was clear. ; Essen has always been the most s heavily defended area in Germany, ' with the possible exception of Ber- ; lin. It has a concentration of antiaircraft guns and searchlights disL posed over many miles in depth around it. All attacking aircraft have to fly for a maximum period through this super-defended zone. Last night's defences seemed much heavier than ever before. Americans Batter Renanlt Works A large force of American heavy bombers successfully attacked the Renault factories at Billancourt, on the outskirts of Paris, to-day. The weather was clear, and the target, which was heavily and accurately bombed, was left on fire. Strong opposition by enemy fighters was encountered ori the return journey, and 25 were destroyed by the Fly- ; ing Fortresses. The final total will not be announced until all combat reports have been assessed. Over the French coast R.A.F., Dominion and Allied fighters covering the withdrawal of the bombers . joined in the combat and destroyed : eight enemy planes. Four bombers ; and seven fighters are missing. Fighter and Bomber Command ; aircraft carried out large scale ' operations to-day over Northern France and the Low Countries, says ] the Air Ministry. Bombers, escorted by fighters, attacked the aerodrome < at Caen and railway yards at Saint J Brieue, in Brittany. Fighter-bombers bombed the docks at Dieppe and the 1 railway yards at Abbeville. Other < fighters made covering and diver- < sionary sweeps and attacked enemy coastal shipping. Three enemy £ fighters were destroyed in these t operations, from which two of our 1 bombers and five fighters are \ missing. Coastal Command aircraft made £ several attacks to-day on enemy e shipping off. the Norwegian coast. £ At least two ships. were hit with torpedoes and one of them sank. One Coastal Command aircraft is missing. Allied Offensive Analysis An official analysis of our mounting air offensive shows that more than 8000 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped a on Germany by the R.A.F. last month, and in North Africa 284 enemy aircraft were destroyed for J the loss of 110 Allied planes. Over I Britain and North Europe 96 enemy n planes were destroyed, while the t R.A.F. lost 190 in all operations of C all commands. Since the beginning of the Tuni- p sian offensive, on March 19, the d Axis has been steadily losing well t over double the number of aircraft a lost by the Allies, says a correspon- o dent attached to Allied headquar- a ters. Up to and including April 2, a 172 Axis aircraft were destroyed, as v against 75 of our own. Only on one day did we lose more than the 1 enemy—eight to six. The highest A score was on March 22, when 26 c enemy aircraft were destroyed for c the loss of seven. The best day's average was on March 26, when it ti reached ten to one. tl