DEVASTATION RATE
INCREASE IN SEPTEMBER
Rec. 1 p.m. RUGBY; October 2. Day bomber sorties in September again -outnumbered night sorties, this time in the proportion of 10 to 6. The liberation of the greater part of France and Belgium enabled the , Bombej; Command to concentrate much of its effort on Germany. ;
There was a marked increase in the rate at which large areas were devastated. German industrial and railway towns which previously had been attacked for strategic reasons became targets for tactical bombing. For instance, Frankfurt, previously attacked' becaues of its chemical engineering industries, was heavily attacked in September because it is now the most important supply base and centre of communication for the defence of Germany. The rate of destruction in Germany was also increased by the use of comparatively small forces, bombing with such accuracy that as much dam-; age w,as done as in much heavier attacks of the past. Thus little'more than 200 Lancasters destroyed almost the whole of Darmstadt, the centre of the chemical industries and a base for the armies defending the upper Rhineland.
The removal of a large part of the flying-bomb menace has reduced even further the defensive commitments of Air Defence of Great Britain, threequarters of whose sorties in September were purely offensive.
The R.A.F. Coastal Command flew over 3000 sorties on patrols against U-boats. . . . -
No German bombers operated against Britain during the month.
Excluding all operations connected with the campaign-in Normandy, the R.A.F. losses were 130 aircraft in offensive action against Europe, while 11 enemy planes were destroyed. Over Britain the enemy lost four aircraft and the R.A.F. none.
Losses announced by Allied headquarters in Italy were 39 Axis and 279 Allied aircraft. Losses announced by the R.A.F. Middle East Command were 13 Axis and one Allied aircraft. The South-east Asia Command announced that two Japanese and 16 Allied aircraft were lost.—B.O.W-
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19441003.2.49.2
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 81, 3 October 1944, Page 5
Word Count
311DEVASTATION RATE Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 81, 3 October 1944, Page 5
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Evening Post. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in