AERIAL OFFENSIVE

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 September 1943, Page 5

AERIAL OFFENSIVE

INTENSE ATTACK RECORD

4,000 TONS OF BOMBS

LONDON, September 25. The Allied non-stop bombing of Europe from Wednesday afternoon to dusk on Friday was probably the most intense 54 hours of aerial attack of the war. It is estimated that 4000 tons of bombs were dropped on German targets from the west coast of France to north Germany. More than 20 targets' were bombed, seven on a major scale. Thousands of day and night sorties were carried out by British and American heavy and medium fighter-bombers and fighters.

Apart from the big Royal Air Force attacks against Hanover, Mannheim, and Ludwigshafen, from which 58 bombers are missing, the Allied losses were remarkably light for such large-scale operations—three Fortresses and 17 fighters. The Germans lost at feast 58 fighters. A large number of fires are still burning in Mannheim and Ludwigshaven on Friday afternoon, many hours after the Bomber Command’s heavy attack on Thursday night. Smoke still hung over a large part of the city. The’fresh damage done that night was severe, especially in the dock, central, and Neckarstadt areas. It is now known that in the attack on Hanover on Wednesday night, very heavy damage was done by fire to the Wollewascherie works, the second largest woolcombers in Germany. The damage done to the Nordwelle wool-combing factory at Basemen last year had an important effect on the clothing situation for the German armies in Russia during the Winter. ®

Twenty German fighters were shot down by Allied home-based fighters when they escorted medium bombers over airfields in Northern France on Thursday. Eight Allied fighters were lost. On intruder patrols, British night-fighters shot down lour German aeroplanes. United States Bth Air Force Marauders, escorted and supported by Royal Air Force, Dominion, and Allied ' Spitfires, attacked the Longuenesse airfield on Saturday afternoon. All returned safely. A medium-sized merchant vessel was hit by a torpedo when Coastal Command Beaufighiers, escorted by Spitfires, attacked a large enemy convoy off the Dutch coast. Escorting vessels were also attacked with cannon and machine-gun lire. The Beaufighiers met with stiff opposition. Several pilots said they had never seen so much tracer before. Two Beaufighters are missing. In the three Allied raids on Nantes, the Paris radio says that 1000 were killed, 13,000 were injured, and 14,00 houses were destroyed. ’ ANOTHER MASS ATTACK

RUGBY, September 26. A large fleet of bombers and fighters of the R.A.F. and U.S.A. A.F. took part in a great operation from Britain early to-night. Observers say waves of machines crossed the coast between Dover and Dungeness toward France in continuous stream for some time. The high-flying fighters left many vapour trails which made unbroken lines in the sky from Folkestone to well inland from Boulogne. Great formations of bombers were observed crossing the coast in the Dungeness area. Some fighters, after sweeping the skies over Northern France, returned in about three-quar-ters of any hour. Four Mosquitoes of the Fighter Command engaged eight JU 88’s in the Bay of Biscay last evening, when two of the enemy were destroyed and several others damaged, some seriously. One Mosquito was lost.