GREATEST YET

Evening Star, Issue 25301, 9 October 1944, Page 5

GREATEST YET

AIR ASSAULTJIN GERMANY j THOUSANDS OF BOMBS CASCADE ON VITAL TARGETS LONDON, Oct. 7. More than 5,000 American warplanes, 3,000 of which were heavy bombers, hammered Germany today in the most devastating daylight air assault of the war, says the Press Association's aviation correspondent. These stunning blows, which were struck from Britain, France,'and Italy, came as the climax to 6.0 hours of bombing of unsurpassed fury, in which at; least 7,500 heavy bombers struck ' time after time against the Reich. They cascaded probably over 30,000 tons of high explosive and fire bombs on vital target areas. The Americans to-day sent" out from British bases over .1,400 Portresses and Liberators—the greatest fleet of heavy bombers ever over Germany in a single operation. R.A.F. Bomber. Command sent out more than 800 Lancasters and Halifaxes, and fighter escort formations aggregated 1,500 planes. These figures do not take into account the thousands of.: medium, light, and fighter-bombers acting in close support of the land forces. Bomber Command last night began a new offensive against Germany. From 3 p.m. until midnight wave after wave of heavies were in the air. Over 1,200 aircraft took part in the operations, and by midnight three German towns were reported ablaze. Well over 1,500 tons were dropped on Dortmund, and the crews reported huge fires spreading, while Bremen, • where Lancasters dropped.over 1,000 tons, seemed to he aTblaze from end to end. Saarbrudken, which was attacked the night before, was still on fire, and the crews. found an area with a radius of two miles and a-half swept with fires.