AERIAL FRONTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 March 1944, Page 5

AERIAL FRONTS

ALLIES MAINTAIN RAIDS

FRENCH AREAS ATTACKED LONDON, March 21. The Royal Air Force kept up the Allied air offensive against Germany last night, when a small force of Lancasters attacked an explosives works 60 miles north-east of Bordeaux. No aircraft were lost m this attack or in those by Mosquitoes on targets in Western Germany. Thunderbolt fighter-bombers swept down from high altitudes yesterday to carry out sudden, swift attacks on three Luftwaffe airfields in Northern France. The aeroplanes, some of which were escorted and covered by Thunderbolt fighters, all returned without loss from these operations, which were part of the all day offensive against enemy targets in France. The targets were the airfields at Poix and at Conches, roughly some 60 miles north-west of Paris, and military installations round the airfield at Abbeville. Dropping 5001 b bombs as well as incendiaries, the Thunderbolt pilots reported hits on dispersal areas, hangars, administration buildings, and barracks. The pilots on the Conches attack reported blasting the railway line leading into Conches at tjie same time as they hit the airfield. Other pilots reported their bombs fell squarely among anti-aircraft gun emplacements at Abbeville. The airfield at Abbeville was at one time the home of the most famous Luftwaffe fighter packs. , „ , . Simultaneously other fighterbombers were searching the skies high over Poix for a hole in the clouds, and finally came down through a break to bomb the administration buildings, dispersal areas, and hangars. A pilot said the field at Poix was dotted with fresh bomb craters. All three Thunderbolt formations reported German troops at the airfields. The antiaircraft fire in some cases was thick and incessant, but no enemy aircraft were sighted in the air or on the ground. A _ Small scale operations by R.A.F. Typhoons and fighters damaged six barges on a waterway in Holland, while R.A.F. Mosauitoes bombed an airfield in Brittany. One Typhoon is missing. In the raids by aircraft from Britain, to-day, 23 aircraft were destroyed. for the loss of eight.

PRECISION BOMBING.

RUGBY, March 21

In connection with the Lancaster raid on the French munition works at Angouleme, the Pouderie Nationale factory which was attacked made nitro-cellulose, used in the manufacture-of powder, and employ- - ed some 2000 workers. The main works building, which is nearly half a mile long, formed the main part of the target, but there are also many ammunition dumps hidden in the trees close by, some of which exploded during the attack. GERMAN BROADCASTING. LONDON, March 21. The Berlin radio announced that . the entire German radio network in future would broadcast hourly bulletins on air activity over German territory. The programmes, in addition, will be interrupted at any time for. special reports.