LUCK FOR R.A.F.

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 143, 13 December 1940, Page 8

LUCK FOR R.A.F.

RAID OVER RHINELAND

FAVOURED BY CLOUDS

MANNHEIM BOMBED

(VJP.A. and Official >V!reless.) (Received December 13, 1 p.m.) LONDON, December 12. Targets for the Royal Air Force last night included industrial objectives in the Rhineland. After struggling through cold and cloudy weather, heavy bombers had the luck they deserved when they reached Mannheim. For several hours, states the Air Ministry news service, they were flown in thick cloud with no sign of the ground, but when they had almost arrived over Mannheim there was a sudden clearing and the Rhine lay bright, below them. The pilots picked out a power station which was the main objective of the night's raids, and sticks of bombs, including many incendiary bombs, were dropped. Immediate fires broke out which were still burning when the aircraft left. Other bombers made earlier attacks in good weather, on a railway and sidings behind the river. There were several fires, which eventually reached material which exploded with great force. The inland harbour at Mannheim was also raided. The docks at Calais, Boulogne, and Naples were severely hit during the night. \ Further details of the bomber activities show that the invasion ports and a number of aerodromes in enemyoccupied territory were bombed. An Air Ministry communique says that targets in Western Germany which incladed power stations, inland docks, and railway yards were attacked. One British aircraft was lost.