BERLIN’S DARKEST HALF-HOUR

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 122, 18 February 1944, Page 5

BERLIN’S DARKEST HALF-HOUR

Huge Rate Of ■Bombing

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received February 1 7„ 7-p.m.) RUGBY, Feb. 16. More than an hour after the main attack on Berlin last night Mosquitoes were still making the work of the city s nre brigade difficult and dangerous. Their crews reported an enormous pall of dense black smoke over the city, in a thick layer which rose to a height of nearly four miles. . . . , Beneath the cloud which covered the whole city in a thick layer to nearly 10,000 feet a great pear-shaped glow of fire stretched across the target, and the smoke had begun to filter upward through the cloud even before the main force had completed its raid.

Practically nothing is left of western Berlin after the R.A.F.’s raid on luesday night according to a traveller who has arrived in Sweden by air from the German* capital, says the Daily Mail’s” Stockholm correspondent. Communications were paralysed, and it took three hours to cover a few miles from the hotel to the airport. All buildings en route were smashed. At least 200 people were killed when the Hotel Bristol, one of the lasipremaining buildings in Unter den Linden, ’was directly hit by a bomb. Another eye-witness said the Chancellory was hit again. The Air Ministry states that the number of aircraft missing from last night’s operations of Bomber Command is 43, not 45. Bombing was effected. at a rate of more than 70 tons a minute, and 2500 tons.were dropped between 9.15 p.m. and just after 945 p.m. Of the force of more than 1600 aircraft dispatched the greater number were Halifaxes and Lancasters. AU these were concentrated on Berlin with the exception of some of the Lancasters, which made the feint attack on Frankfurt-on-Oder. Irritation from Mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes were still making the worn of Berlin’s fire brigade difficult and dangerous an hour later. Their crews reported an enormous pall of dense blue* smoke over, the city, rising to a heigm of about four miles. Under .the cloud which covered the whole city in a thicli layer to nearly 10,000 feet a great pearshaped glow of fire stretched across toe target and the smoke had begun to filter upward through the clouds even before the main force had finished their raid The flak, was so violent when the first sky-marker bombs dropped that it was evident the main night-fighter force was late. Scattered fighter flares later. began to appear in the sky, but even in the last stages of the attack many of our crews bombed without opposition from fighters. The weather may have ground ed some of the fighters. The Germans seemed to be unable to get a large enough number over Berlin to intercept more than a small proportion of the great force of bombers. The air defences appear to have been effectively saturated. The searchlights were unable either to get through the cloud, or to illuminate them to silhouette the bombers. Last night’s raid was the fifteenth major assault since the Battle of Berlin began on November IS. The last heavy attack was on January 30, when ow>r 1500 tons of bombs were dropped. A similar tonnage was dropped on Berlin on January 27 and 28. Mosquitoes have been over Berlin three times since the last big raid. There was a feeling of tense expectancy at the air bases before the bombers took off. The crews knew it was a major operation. Actually the full drama ot the occasion was missed by many oE the men who flew the Lancasters and Hallfaxes. Some of them found'it quite a normal operation. There was too much cloud for them to see the full effect of the avalanche of bombs. Since the Bomber Command began i:s systematic offensive against Berlin in November, more than 23,500 tons ot bombs have fallen on the city.

BATTLE OF WITS

Royal Air Force v. Luftwaffe (British Official Wireless.) ■RUGBY, February 16. A station commander gave facts about the tremendous amount of work involved in putting up last night’s great force of over 1000 aircraft for the raid on Berlin. “Every attack is the work of a huge organization, engaged in a battle of wits with an even larger organization in Germany. , . , , “Each attack is planned, organized and calculated w.ith reference to individual circumstances, most unlikely to repeat themselves on any future occasion. “In the shortest possible time well over 1000 aircraft had to be got into rhe air last night. Without getting scattered along the route, they had to keep together in spite of different speeds and suitable operational heights for the different types of bombers, reach the target, and leave it within about half an hour. All this had to be done in darkness and cloud. , • ’ “It was a busy night for air crews, but also a very long day for those on the ground. It took roughly 4000 men to get bombs into the 1000 aircraft, and. the work took over five hours. Some 7000 flying personnel were briefed, and there were something like 50 men. working on the ground for each bomber in the air. “We used well over 1,000,000 gallons of petrol and many thousands of.gallons of oil, and a great volume of fluid was needed for the hydraulic undercarriages, de-icing systems and various pumps. Many thousands of radio valves-had to be checked. On each bomber station lorries had to be ready for such specialized work as servicing the accumulators, keeping tyres at the right air pressure, and filling oxygen cylinders. .. Seven thousand flying suits had to be prepared, and about threequarters of a million rounds of ammunition had to be stowed aboard after being packed in belts.” The 1000-bomber attacks of 1942 have already been many times surpassed in weight, effectiveness and range.; In the new 1000-bomber assault, no crews arc detached, as in 1942, from training stations, and almost every squadron is flying four-engined bombers.