HEAVY RAID ON KIEL

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24365, 18 September 1944, Page 4

HEAVY RAID ON KIEL

BOMBERS START LARGE FIRES BERLIN ATTACKED (Rec 11 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. It.', , (R "On Friday night Royal Air forM .. bombers were out in great strengw , with Kiel as the main objective, says - the Air Ministry. “A great load ox high explosive and incendiaries ‘ dropped and large fires were observes!. “Objectives in Berlin were also ~ bombed and extensive minelaying op*, erations were carried out. Eleven oi , our aircraft are missing. . . • • “Dunkirk was the main' objective • for rocket Typhoons and bomb-carry ing Spitfires oh Friday, and close sup* port was again given to the ground . forces investing the port and gun positions.” .. • Later reports state that more than 800 aircraft were dispatched to Germany on Friday night. The bombing of Kiel was very concentrated and by , the end of the attack fierce fires had broken out and were visible 120 miles , away. ■ • It is officially announced that Thunderbolts and Mustangs bombing and strafing rail and highway communications round Bremen and Frankfurt late on Saturday destroyed 73 > oil tank cars, disabled 56 and wrecked 39 motor-vehicles. , One hundred and fifty medium and - light bombers on Saturday afternoon .heavily bombed Arnemuiden Dyke and; the South Beveland Isthmus, which connect Walcheren Island with the ' mainland, to prevent the conversion of the Antwerp harbour installations into a fortress. The bombers pin- • Eointed the targets with 300 tons oi r ombs in spite of heavy flak from ships in the Schelde Estuary. Two aeroplanes are missing. „ Three merchant ships were left burning and an escort vessel was blown up on Thursday evening when Coastal Command Beaufighters and Mosquitoes attacked an enemy convoy off Kristiansund, in southern Norway, says an Air Ministry communique!; A Bomber Command Lancaster on. Thursday afternoon attacked; an ammunition depot in Holland. One Beaufighter is missing. Royal Air Force Bomber Command, from September 10 until tbs night of .September 14. dropped well over 13,000 tons of bombs on Germany—an average of more than 2500 tons every 24 hours. At one time Muenster, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, and Osnabrueck were ablaze, and Darmstadt was still smouldering. Smoke from the blasted cities was blown all the way to England.