DUSSELDORF'S TURN

Evening Star, Issue 25324, 4 November 1944, Page 7

DUSSELDORF'S TURN

yOO-TON BOMB LOAD STRONG ENEMY FIGHTER OPPOSITION (Rec. 10 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 3. Well over 4,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Dusseldor'f, the administrti; tive centre of the Ituhr, when 1,000 It.A.F. planes were over Germany, it was the heaviest bomb load dropped on this important enemy advance base and industrial city. Zero hour for the attack, against Dussoldorf was 6 p.m., G.M.T., and at the same moment Mosquitoes attacked Osnabruck. It was Dusseldorf's heaviest attack yet. The raid occurred in bright moonlight, but it' was so early in the evennijj that the moon lit up the target without silhouetting the bombers against the ground. Everything was so clear that crews could see the markers when still 50 miles from the target. The enemy's heavy guns went into action while the fighters joined in the battle in greater numbers than during the offensive against Cologne. Many enemy fighters, including numbers or jet-propelled machines, were seen.

An Air Ministry communique says that after the attack very large fires were left burning. Nine enemy fighters, including five jet-propelled aircraft, were destroyed by the bombers. Nightfighters supported the bombers and attacked enemy airfields. Mosquitoes on intruder patrol attacked transport targets and destroyed an enemy aircraft over North-west Germany.

Prom these operations 21 bombers are missing. Over 900 Ninth Air Force Marauders and Havocs yesterday _ without loss attacked five railway bridges behind the enemy's front line west and south-west of Coblenz and at Cologne, including an eight-span bridge over the Moselle at Konz, five miles south-west of Trier. It was left partly hanging into the river.