GIGANTIC BLAZE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 128, 2 June 1942, Page 5

GIGANTIC BLAZE

CITY A SEA OF FLAME

LONDON, May 31. "It was • almost too gigantic to be real," said the pilot of a Halifax bomber which raided Cologne. "Below us in every part of the city buildings were ablaze. Here and there you could see their outlines, but mostly it was just one big stretch of fire. \ "It was strange to see the flames reflected on our aircraft, and it looked at times as if we were on fire ourselves, with the red glow dancing up and down the wings." Britain thrilled when it heard the story of the vast raid on Cologne, and thrilled again when it heard Mr. Churchill's message saying that this is a herald of what Germany will receive from now onward. Crowds all along the south . coast had heard ,and watched masses of planes passing over, and a correspondent describes it as an unforgettable experience, with the roar of engines sounding like a gigantic waterfall. Each bomber took oft* at an exactly regulated interval, and each had a i bomb-load appropriate to the part it was playing in the attack. It was to saturate the defences of one of the most heavily defended areas in Germany that the attack was planned to take not more than 90 minutes, with the bombers coming in at the rate of one every six seconds. Night fighters were kept away by simultaneous raids on German aerodromes.