MILAN HEAVILY BOMBED

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24028, 17 August 1943, Page 5

MILAN HEAVILY BOMBED

Third Attack In Four Nights “NO QUARTER OF CITY INTACT” (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON. Aug. 16. Royal Air Force bombers from Britain bombed Milan again last night, for the third time in four nights. Heavy damage was caused. Earlier reports from Switzerland said there had been another big air attack on Milan, and that people 50 miles away could hear the explosions and see fires. Milan, according to reports from Italy, met the fate of Hamburg as a result of Saturday night's raid. The correspondent of the British United Press on the Italian’frontier says that no quarter of the city, with the exception of the Porta Ticinese area, remains intact. The correspondent says that a crowd on Sunday morning clamoured fqr peace in the streets of the city, in spite of the arrival of troops. “Following the raid, British parachutists were observed near Como, 20 miles north of Milan,” says the correspondent. “Two paratroops who were armed with automatic weapons and explosives were captured while riding bicycles. , . "Unbelievable chaos reigns in Milan. The evacuation of the city has now become a general flight. Thousands of families are camping in the open air outside the city. It is now confirmed that the main railway station and marshalling yards in Milan were destroyed in the Royal Air Force raid on Thursday.” The raiders over Milan on Saturday night—all Lancasters—divided and made two simultaneous attacks. One was on the Breda armament works, the Italian equivalent of Krupps. in the San Giovanni district, on the outskirts of the town. The huge factory was bombed in bright moonlight and clear weather. The rest of the force followed up the attack of two nights before, when more than 1000 tons of bombs were dropped on industries and railways nearer the centre of the town. The whole operation was another of the Bomber Command’s rapid attacks at long range. After flying over .800 miles, all the crews kept the appointment so punctually that the whole bomb load was down on the two targets in 22 minutes. Fires in Breda Works Sticks of heavy bombs- went right across the Breda works —which are defended by heavy guns round the area and light flak in the factory itself—and big fires were soon burning. Very early in the attack it looked as though an oil tank had caught fire. Like Krupps, the Breda works produces locomotives and rolling stock as well as arms. Bombs, shells, machineguns, aircraft, components of armoured fighting vehicles, electrical machinery, boilers, steel stampings, and forgings are among its products. , . . The crews" attacking the industrial areas near the centre of Milan saw flares directly over the Breda works and fires below the flares.. Their own attack developed very quickly. In a few minutes smoke from large, wellconcentrated fires had risen to 6000 feet. The defences, though by no means up to the German standard, were slightly stronger than two nights b e f or e. Fires were still burning in Milan on Saturday when a reconnaissance aircraft was over the city. From a first inspection of the photographs taken it is already known that many very important war factories were hit mjthe 100&-ton attack on Thursday. The Isotta Fraschini and Innocenti aero engine works were damaged, and there was particularly severe damage to the Alfa-Romeo aero engine works.. Other damaged plants include the Via Nervese steel foundry, making steel turrets and shells, the Bianchi car and jorry works, and several metal works. There is new damage to the central railway station and the Porta Nuovo station. ~ „ . „ ~ The Rome radio said that the raid on Saturday night was mainly directed against the south-west of Milan. Monuments and residential areas were hit. and the right wing of the palace was set on fire. Yesterday’s Italian communique says that numerous buildings collapsed and many fires were started. The Allies also bombed various localities in the Catanzaro area. REPORTED REMOVAL FROM BERLIN OFFICIALS OF GERMAN MINISTRIES (8.0. W.) RUGBY, Aug. 15. Many German officials, including a number from the Reich Chancellery, the Foreign Office, the High Command, and the Ministries of Marine, Air, and Home Affairs have moved from Berlin, according to the correspondent of the “Daily Mail” on the German frontier. He adds that 1,250,000 persons have already been evacuated from Berlin, chiefly to Pomerania, East Prussia, Brandenburg, and Lower Silesia. The Algiers radio, quoting a report from Stockholm, says that the German Ministries of Propaganda and Foreign Affairs are moving to Vienna and the War Ministry to the south of Germany. First News Of War.—Reuter says that the inmates of a monastery on a mountain in Tibet have just learned that there is a war going on.—London, August 16.