ALLIED PLANES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 64, 16 March 1944, Page 5

ALLIED PLANES

CONTINENTAL RAIDS

Attacks On Germany, Belgium

And France

British Official Wireless

Rec. 2 p.m

RUGBY, Mar. 15

Mosquitoes of Bomber Command attacked Dusselriorf last night without loss, states the Air Ministry. United States Headquarters state that medium size forces of heavy bombers of the Eighth Air Force, escorted by strong forces of American fighters, attacked military targets in central Germany to-day. Enemy sources stated that a large air battle was being fought over Hanover and Brunswick between German night fighters and American forces.

Thirteen German raiders are known to have been destroyed last night, including two over bases in Holland.

During an American bomber raid over Brunswick American Air Force escort planes shot down 36 enemy interceptors. Five A.A.F. fighters and three heavy bombers are missing. A final tabulation of the bombers' claims has not yet been completed. The bombing was done through almost 100 per cent cloud by the use of instruments. Some bomber crews reported sighting numerous enemy fighters, while others said they saw practically none. Flak ranged from weak in outlying areas to intense over the target.

Another American air attack pressed deep into Belgium during the morning when a strong formation blasted the Luftwaffe airfield of Chievrer and the railway yards and locomotive works at Haine St. Pierre. Simultaneously other Marauders struck the railway yards at Auldnoye, four miles south of Amiens, and an important stop for traffic between Lille and the ports of Dunkirk and Calais. None of the Marauders are missing.