FORTRESSES and LIBERATORS POUND INNSBRUCK AND AUGSBURG IN DAYLIGHT

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 13333, 21 December 1943, Page 5

FORTRESSES and LIBERATORS POUND INNSBRUCK AND AUGSBURG IN DAYLIGHT

,-mVAFFE LOSES HEAVILY IN EFFORTS ■ TO PROTECT VITAL TARGETS

London, December 20. u]ig(l air power is tightening: its grip on the German war in daylight as well .as at night. At least four times within : olirS targets in Germany and occupied Europe have been : ied'bv strong forces of American aircraft flying in from the :: h and the south. This morning? formations of heavy bombers headed out from . ; , ain to attack targets in north-west Germany which have not .named yet. They had an escort of fighters. About the same L American medium bombers were over northern Prance. Thev. 'tad an escort of fighters, this time from R.A.F., Dominion and •| r Allied squadrons. Yesterday’s two targets were Innsbruck, for the second time # four days, and Augsburg, deep in the heart of southern .'uny. They were attacked by Flying Fortresses and Liberators firing to the Fifteenth United States Army Air Force based in Cjfediterranean theatre. The significance of these two-way blows coming one on top of .•ther is touched on by a correspondent in a despatch from jjfrs. He said that the war factories of south-eastern Germanv, ■ a have been safe for so long, are now threatened. Tim Ilians must new contemplate on the grim prospect not only of night raids by the R.A.F. but of daylight attacks" by , v , r ted heavy bombers coming in from both Britain and newly.nbases almost on their back doorstep.

gome idea of what this .Prospect means to the Germans is rmhvthe terrific fight the Luftwaffe put up yesterday to ward -*t|iP blows. Over Tunsbruk, which is a key railway town, there terrific opposition and manv fighters came up to meet the belters, As one American pilot said, “They came at ns’ hmevery anode, mostly peeling out of the sun and diving right tough onr formations. They seemed so close yon could almost d out and touch their pilots.” Hie Germans paid verv heavilv for their persistence. The rfresses and their escorting Lightnings shot down 24 fighters er lnnsbruck, while tire Liberators which went to Angsbura, g?ed another 13. On top of this 22 more enemv fighters were stably destroyed. And in spite of these distractions the mn bombers did a first-class job of pattern bombing at both ,’jpts.

The Augsburg raid took the Liberators deeper into Germany the south than ever before. The city is 35 miles north-west Jfuuich and it first came into the war news when a big force R.A.F. Lancasters hedge-hopped for hundreds of miles last inland bombed it in daylight. One of its most important targets ihig U-boat factory.

Eleven American bombers are missing' from yesterday’s two is but it is believed some of these landed in friendly territory. Air operations over the Italian battlefront have also been %. thanks to better weather. Other bombers have ranged 1 behind the front line to attach key railway points and the port Home at .Civitavecchia. Still others were over the Adriatic and Mian coasts.