AERIAL OFFENSIVE

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 November 1944, Page 6

AERIAL OFFENSIVE

COLOOWE AC Ar,’ BATTERED

LONDON, October 31. Last night Royal Air Force heavy bombers dropped about 4000 tons of high explosives and incendiaries on Cologne, the battered and burning but still serviceable advanced base for the Germans in the northern part ol the Siegfried Line. It was the seventh air attack on Cologne in three days. The great weight of bombs from, more than 850 Lancasters and Halifaxes went down at the rate of 100 tons a m Mosquitoes last night bombed Berlin In all, more than 100,0 aeroplanes of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command were out last night. Only two are missing. ANOTHER ONSLAUGHT LONDON, October 31. The Air Ministry stated that five hundred heavy bombers from. R.A.I?. Bombe Command attacked Cologne to-night. The bomb weight now drooped on the city in the past lour davs is well over nine thousand, tons. Nearly two hours before the heavies attack, a force of'Mosquitoes bombed the city. PANIC-STRICKEN GERMANS (Rec. 10.20 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 31. Panic-stricken German civilians are besieging trains in .the attempt to escape from R.A.F. raids on the Rhineland. The Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Zurich correspondent says that thousands of homeless civilians are swarming into the Lake Constance district, chiefly from Cologne. People are arriving . at the alreadj ? overcrowded villages, clad in rags and often without shoes or belongings. The correspondent says it is reliably learned that Cologne and 64 villages in the district are uninhabitable? Police and S.S. men had to intervene at Dusseldorf and Coblenz when thousands of panic-stricken peonle besieged the trains, endeavouring to escape from the raids which have so dislocated the railways that only troops and bombed-out persons arc allowed to travel. CANAL~RRE ACHED RUGBY, October 31. , Reconnaissance pictures revealed that the Mittelland Canal, at Minden (Germany) .was breached by bombs i'rom Liberators of the Eighth An' Force under adverse weather conditions on October 26. The canal wall was destroyed by a direct hit. Nearbits weakened the wall at other points and damaged the nearby barge i epair works. Waler rushing, through the breach drained the canal dry for about three miles, leaving at least 30 barges and tug-boats stranded. The canal is the most important east-west interna: waterway in Germany, linking central and' eastern Germany with the Ruhr Valley and the Rhineland.

FLYING BOMBS

LONDON, October 31

Before dawn against Southern England, including the London area, robots met heavy gunfire when crossing the coast. Several blew up in midair. A hotel was demolished. Search fs being made for the guests, among whom it is believed were a number of children.

(Recd. 10 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 31. At least five and possibly seven were killed and a number were injured when a flying bomb hit a hotel in Southern England. The body of a voting baby was among those dug out. Several persons are believed to be still buried. . Flying bombs were ]av.nehecl against''Southern England in daylight to-day, which was the first, daylight assault for months. The elation says this may indicate a change of tactics. The bombs came in from' various points, suggesting that the planes from which they were launched had taken advantage of cloud cover to elude our patrols. Many bombs, nevertheless, were shot down.