R.A.F. OFFENSIVE

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 October 1942, Page 5

R.A.F. OFFENSIVE

RAIDS ON GERMANY

RUGBY, October 20

An Air Ministry communique stated: This afternoon Mosquitoes of. the Bomber Command, flying' singly, attacked objectives near Hanover, Wilhelmshaven, and also at Bremen, where bombs, dropped from a low level, were seen to burst in the centre of the city. One of our aircraft is missing, DESTRUCTION IN HOLLAND RUGBY, October 20. Daylight sweeps over Holland, last week, by Mustangs of the Army Cooperation Command, resulted in the destruction of nineteen railway engines and seven tugs. Numerous trucks were destroyed or damaged. A military car also attacked, burst into flames/and ran off the road. The primary object of these operations, says the Air Ministry News Service, was to destroy, or interfere with enemy communications. Before the pilots took off they were warned to take the greatest possible rare to ensure the civilian population did not suffer from the attacks. The sight of the R.A.F. evidently had a heartening effect on the oppressed people, many of whom stopped their work in the field to wave encouragement. Some of the pilots travelling at treetops level waved back.

N.Z'ers. IN CREUSOT RAID

(N’.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) LONDON, Oct. 19. New' Zealand pilots were in five out oi the six lirst Lancaster aircraft to bomb the Le Creusot armament works in tiie 94-bomber raid last week. New Zealand navigators, bombaimers, and air gunners also took part. They included Pilot Officers R. O. Calvert, D.F.C. (Waikato), D. H. Palmer (Wellington), A. R. Loader (Taihape), and R. W. Stewart (Whakatane); Flight Lieutenants V. S. Moore, D.F.M. (Taumarunui), and H. W. Player (Petone); and Sergeants P. L. Singer and A. M. Singer (Gisborne), J. L. Williams (Gisborne), R. Crosgrove (Auckland), J. W. Collbert (Te Puia Springs), D. V. Davids (Raetihi), J. B. Price (Grey Lynn), R. Menzies (Hastings), and R. B. Pickford (Rata). All agreed that the raid was “a piece of cake.” They met only slight anti-aircraft lire over the target, but it stopped after the first two bombers had released their bombs.

Flight Sergeant Player said: “We had no exciting incident in the whole trip. We prepared for the take-off shortly after midday. We soon picked up the other sections and then swept out over the coast, flying almost wing-tip to wing-tip. The weather was perfect. The only bad spot was over the sea, when we flew at just above the waves. We hedgehopped over most of France and climbed when nearing the target, and my heart sank when I sighted a thick cloud bank, as I thought it might upset the whole operation, but luckily lit cleared. I have never seen buildings disappear as they did. when our bombs fell. They collapsed like a pack of cards. .It was better than any earthquake. We saw little sign of life over France: —only a few people working in fields, and a ploughman, who threw himself flat when he heard the roar of our engines. Others outside a village waved and gave the ‘V’ sign.” Sergeant Menzies said: “The worst part of the trip was waiting for something which did not happen. It seemed impossible that the Germans would let us get away scot free.” Flight Sergeant Moore, who recently spent 36 hours at sea in a dinghy when he was forced down after the raid against Bremen, said: “Le Creusot was the best show I have had. Jerry was conspicuous by his absence.”

Commenting on the New Zealanders’ part in the action, a group captain said:: “They are a credit to the Dominion and also to the men who trained- them. We always look on the New Zealanders as the backbone of our bomber crews. They are grand chaps.” CREUSOT CASUALTIES (Recd. 12.15 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 20. The Vichy radio says that the number killed at Lo Creusot has risen to 57. Sixty houses were destroyed and 300 damaged.