BOMBS ON REICH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 215, 11 September 1944, Page 6

BOMBS ON REICH

OVER 1100 FORTRESSES Traffic And Factory Targets Blasted N.Z.P.A. and British Wireless Rec. 2.30 p.m. LONDON, Sept 10. More than 1100 Flying Fortresses and- Liberators flew through Southern Germany to-day, fanning out to attack targets over a wide area. They were escorted by medium forces of Lightnings and Mustangs, while Thunderbolts strafed aerodromes in Western Germany. The targets for the bombers were in the Stuttgart-NurnburgrUlm area and included aircraft plants, and tank and truck factories. . A United States Army Air Force communique, dealing with <to-day s raids against Germany, states that 12 bombers and 15 fighters are missing. The .bombers fc did not encounter any enemy planes, but anti-air-craft fire was intense at some points. The escorting fighters shot down six German fighters in combat and destroyed 119 on the,ground. R.A.F.«BIow to Key Traffic Centre Just before dawn this morning a force of R.A.F.. Lancasters made a heavy attack on Munchen-Gladbach, a key traffic centre south-west of the Ruhr, not far behind the German line. They dropped 239,000 incendiaries. Fire sprang up soon after the markers had gone down, ana a great pall of smoke' spiralled up. Dawn began to break as our main force arrived over the town, and the searchlights were very greatly handicapped by the half-light. '■■ A reconnaissance pilot, who flew over some five hours after the attack, found the centre of the town burning fiercely. Medium forces of escorted heavybombers to-day bombed Labau and Nova Schwechat oil refineries, seven miles south-east of 'Vienna, says a Rome correspondent. Intense flak was encountered, but no enemy aircraft. Liberators attacked Trieste Harbour, and Mustangs strafed an airfield in Hungary, destroying several grounded aircraft. Mitchells bombed troops and supplies at the town of Maresca, 35 miles north-east of Pisa, in the Gothic Line. Bridges, railway targets and an ammunition factory near Spezia were also attached.