British Crews See East Front Battle

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 39, 15 February 1945, Page 5

British Crews See East Front Battle

AIR BLOW ON DRESDEN Direct Co-operation With Advancing Russian Armies

N.Z.P.A. —Copyright.—Rec. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, February 14. The crews of Lancaster bombers in a force of 800 planes which attacked the city of Dresden, south of Berlin, last night in direct support of the Russian advance from the east, could see the East Front battle, reports the British United Press corres-. pondent with the Canadian Heavy Bomber Group. "As we left the target I could see endless fires and explosions in the east," said a Canadian air-gunner. "'The Russians were lajdhg down all kinds of stuff on the Germans. Gun flashes spattered along the Western Front as well, but they could not be compared with those on the East Front." Eight hundred of the 1400 planes dispatched over Germany last night attacked Dresden, states the Air Ministry news service. It was the first major attack launched against the city. The attack was carried out in two waves with an interval of three and a quarter hours. Cloud obscured the target for the first attack, but the sky had cleared when the second force reached the city, enabling visual bombing, and the crews were able to see the effect of the first attack. Dresden at present is a place of vital importance to the enemy, says the Air Ministry. Its telephone services and other signal communications are almost as essential to the German Army as the railways and roads which meet in Dresden. Its buildings sure desperately needed for troops and administrative services evacuated from other towns. Dresden possesses large ammunition workshops, light engineering works and important precision factories. The Berlin radio military spokesman described the R.A.F. raid against Dresden last night as a "real terror attack directed entirely against the centre of the city." He added, that the worldfamous museum and art gallery with the great picture gallery, the Castle Opera House and other famous buildings were destroyed.