FIRES STILL RAGING

Evening Star, Issue 25089, 2 February 1944, Page 5

FIRES STILL RAGING

LARGE AREAS OF CITY WITHOUT WATER Earlier reports Teaching Sweden said." that fires are blazing all 'around Berlin. Firemen are being assisted by the army and' civilians in an effort to extinguish the fires before another attack_ is made. A large area of the city is water, and'..traffic in many districts, is paralysed. The same reports say that Maine Factory, which formerly made precision machinery, is now in ruins. Berlin's railway stations are said to be crowded with people, whose only wish is to get out of the city. The Berlin radio admits that £he raiders were able to evade the defences and carry out the attack in a remarkably short time. The defences were subjected to the whole weight and-fury of tjhe attack in a mere breathing space. .The radio announced that mobile operating theatres are being used for serious raid casualties. Vans equipped for surgery and able to be used for amputations made comprehensive first aid possible while the raids were in progress.' The Stockholm correspondent of ' The Times' says the tone of Berlin newspaper comment on the raid on Saturday is more serious than ever. The ' Voelkischer Beobachter' says- " It was one of -the most severe terror attacks that Berlin has-suffered. The population has feverish hours behind it. The damage is great." The aeronautical correspondent of the British United Press says: " The battle over Europe has reached a great height. Thirty-five hundred Allied planes in 80 hours dropped more than 7,500 tons of bombs on Berlin, Brunswick, and Frankfurt. .This does riot take account of the Mediterranean operations, the Liberator attacks on the Pas de Calais area tptdar, or medium' bomber sorties. This is a battle in the truest sense. The great forces of planes participating carried nearly 30,000 members of air crews and the missing men total more than 1,200. The IR.A.F. has dropped more than 5,000 tons on Berlin in the'last three and a-half days, bringing the total dropped on Berlin to nearly 28,000 tons since the attacks were started after the summer lull."