BOMBED, STRAFED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 251, 23 October 1944, Page 5

BOMBED, STRAFED

NAZIS HEAVILY HIT

Transport And Industries Given No Respite

N.Z.P.A. and British Wireless Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 22. R.A.F. Mosquitoes were out over Germany and Holland in very bad weather during the night patrolling roads and railways leading to the battlefront. A number of attacks were made, but bad visibility pre•vented observation.

Road and rail crossings between I Leer and Munster were bombed and strafed. A Mosquito pilot strafed the lights near Wesel with cannons. A small road convoy, south-west of Zwolle, heading i westwards, was .strafed and several hits were seen. A road bridge near Flushing was bombed. A fire observed in the same area was increased by another attack.

More than 1100 United States heavy bombers to : day attacked industrial and communication targets in the Hamm, Munster, Hanover and Brunswick areas of Germany. Liberators and Fortresses were escorted by more than 750 United States Thunderbolts and Mustangs.

In an offensive sweep down the Rhine Valley from Aachen to the Third Army front, 500 Thunderbolts and Lightnings yesterday shot down 22 German planes, destroyed two on the ground and damaged 15. Three fighter-bombers , are missing. Enemy fighters, in some strength, were encountered yesterday over the Ruhr Valley. We shot down 21 in combat for the loss of three fighter-bombers. The wing-commander ■ leading R.A.F. and Czech Spitfires, which, without loss, escorted the Lancasters bombing German batteries at Flushing, reported that Walcheren Island was swamped by floods from the breached sea walls. Few fields were free from water, particularly in the southern part of the island.