RUHR CUT OFF FROM WESTERN GERMANY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1945, Page 5

RUHR CUT OFF FROM WESTERN GERMANY

DEVASTATING RAIDS Enemy Traffic Brought To Standstill N.Z. Press Association —Copyright Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, March 22. The Ruhr, to all intents and purposes, is cut off from Western Germany, following the latest massive Allied air attacks, which are described as the greatest air assault of all time, says Reuters correspondent at Second Tactical Air Force Headquarters. Combined Bomber and Tactical Commands to-day left' front line towns and fortified villag'es wrecked, smoking and in flames. They reduced roads to masses of craters and by early afternoon had brought to a standstill all traffic behind Blaskowitz's front line. Pilots returning from the raids reported that the entire area in and behind the German front lines was hidden under a haze from fires, also that great clouds of billowing smoke were rising from towns and villages. All the crews reported that bombingwas concentrated and accurate. The region of devastation is spreading hourly. -Heavy anti-aircraft fire met the bombers, whose crews pressed home their attacks through curtains of fire. "This Place Existed" One report on Alstatte, north of Koesfeld, was the shortest yet received from Tactical Air Force Headquarters. It was: "This place existed." American heavy bombers, switching from airfield targets north-east of the Ruhr, attacked Frankfurt airfields, from whence the Luftwaffe is believed to be operating jetplanes. The assault along the river front included Duisburg railway yards, where railway installations and rolling stock went up in smoke. The British United Press correspondent at Twenty-first Army Group says that the whole enemy transportation system has been so hacked about by the Tactical Air Force in the last few weeks that it is no longer considered an effective part of the German Army organisation. The whole area has been turned into a smoking wreck of marshalling yards, stations and shattered bridges. Almost to Russian Lines Approximately 700 Mustangs, escorting R.A.F. and American heavies, to-day covered Germany from Bremen, in the north-west, to Lake Constance, in the south, and beyond Berlin, almost to the Russian lines, in the east. The Luftwaffe declined the challenge, but 13 enemy planes were shot down in isolated encounters. Nine more were destroyed on the ground. To-day's joint British and American pounding of military installations east of the Rhine did not interrupt the Tactical Air Force s interdiction programme against V 2 routes in Northern Holland. They cut 23 railway lines, mainly around The Hague. Home-based and Europe-based Allied air forces are now flying 8000 to 10,000 battle sorties daily, at times exceeding the effort before and after D day, says the Daily Telegraph aviation correspondent. The bomb load is sometimes 10,000 tons daily. Airmen in their enthusiasm to hit targets have been coming dpwn to "O feet." Heavy bombers, in daylight pin-pointing, have been particularly accurate. All monthly records will be broken if the present weather continues until March 31. It is officially stated that R.A.F. Bomber Command Mosquitoes attacked Berlin last night for the 31st successive night.