300 R.A.F. PLANES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 41, 16 August 1941, Page 9

300 R.A.F. PLANES

RAID INTO REICH

GREAT MANUFACTURING CITIES BOMBED

SATISFYING REPORTS

(Rec. 12.20 p.m.) RUGBY, August 15. Last night's R.A.F. offensive moved on to the great manufacturing cities in Prussia, states the Air Ministry news service. The largest of three attacking forces was sent to Hanover, but two other capitals of the German provinces, Brunswick and Magdeburg, were each heavily bombed. Not only were the British bombers out in great numbers —more than 300 aircraft took part-—but the latest types of Manchesters, four-engined Stirlings, and Halifaxes were also among them. Hanover, with a population of half a million, is the centre of the heavy industries. The iron foundries and factories, which are now given over to war production, lie mostly in the north and south-west of the city. From 50 miles away the pilots of successive waves of bombers could pick out the fires which were started among these objectives by the first arrivals. When their turn came to bomb, a bright moon lit up the buildings and railway lines. There was little cloud. The bombing was steady and accurate, and the report of the last crew to leave Hanover spoke of a great triangle of raging fires which were left in the city. The fires in Hanover were seen by j crews who were striking yet more i deeply into Germany. Their objectives were Brunswick, a town with many factories, which are making machinery | and motor transport, and Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony, another great industrial city and a centre of railway and river traffic. Here the clouds were thicker. At Brunswick, too, the British crews overcame the weather and returned with satisfying reports of damage done. , Subsidiary attacks were made on the docks at Rotterdam and Boulogne. Blenheims operating against enemy shipping off the Frisian Islands yesterday scored direct hits on a supply ship, which was left in flames and sinking.—B.O.W.