BOMBING OF DYKE N.Z. AIRMEN TAKE PART

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 84, 6 October 1944, Page 5

BOMBING OF DYKE N.Z. AIRMEN TAKE PART

(Special P.A. Correspondent.) Rec. 9 a.m. LONDON, October 9.

Lancasters of the No. 75 (New Zealand) Squadron were in of th« waves of heavy bbmbers which were sent to breach the Westkapelle Dyke and flood Walcheren Island. The crews had a good view of the development of the attack, which was designed to engulf the German garrison and swamp their long-established defences. While the Germans were on the island the Allies were unable to use the port* of Antwerp. -. .-■"■-.■ '.

Great accuracy in bombing was essential, for the actual; target was little more than 300 feet by 200 feet. The attack was carefully timed to coincide with high tide. The .Lancasters met with little opposition from ground defences, and the escorting fighter aircraft kept the enemy away. Low cloud patches which drifted across the target were a slight complication. Flying Officer M. Smith,, of Christchurch, made 1 four circuits before his borrib-aimer was able to get an uninterrupted visual check. "I was in the fourth wave of bombers," he said, "and by the ■ time we had released our bombs the dyke was feeling the effect of the pounding. It looked as if the sea wall was just. breaking. Water was seeping through when we left." ; Earlier arrivals, pilots who bombed with the second wave, said it was some time before the wall disintegrated. Flying Officer M. E. Dare, of Auckland, reported seeing bomb burstsalong the wall and across the target indicator which marked the aiming point. "We had to go down to 5000 feet to get below the cloud, and there seemed to be thousands of aircraft milling around preparing tobomb from low heights," he said. '

The English national newspapers oublish graphic photographs of the breach. . It is improbable that the Germans can restore -the- situation * which means -that' the Allies may soon v be able to use the ports of Antwerp am* TThishinoL, , , v F