ALLIED AIRMEN BUSY

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 December 1944, Page 5

ALLIED AIRMEN BUSY

TRANSPORT DESTROYED ENEMY PLANE LOSSES LONDON, December 26. The Allied air forces . yesterday again went powerfully into action over the area of the bulge the Germans have made in the Ist Army front and against, communications leading to the front. The United States 9th Air Force alone destroyed 56 German tanks and damaged 17.

The British United Press correspondent at Allied ir headquarters says' that pilote returning from strafing German transports say the enemy for the first time since the Falaise battle is moving supplies to the front m daylight. Typhoon pilots badly mauled a large number of enemy vehicles. An English pilot said: “There , was motor transport everywhere, the lorries showing up against the snowcovered hills. The lads got in some very accurate shooting. There seemed to be 10 lorries to every five miles of road.” Bostons and Mitchells yesterday morning smashed 200 railway trucks which were caught at a junction near St. Vith. A second force of Bostons and Mitchells attacked a road junction in this area. Pilots reported increased anti-aircraft defences, with which the Germans are attempting to protect the masses of material tney are moving to the Ardennes. Reuter’s Paris correspondent reports that aeroplanes of the 9th United States Air Force strafed 15 villages in which Germans were billeted and ammunition supplies stored. The Americans destroyed 14 German aeroplanes for the loss of six. Night fighters and intruders on Sunday night-destroyed 12 enemy aeroIplclMGS.

•The British United Press correspondent with the American forces says: “The British and American air forces throughout the day .flew between 5000 and 6000 sorties. The 9th Air- Force flew 1050 sorties m which it destroyed or damaged 773 motor vehicles. It shot down 15 German aeroplanes and destroyed five on the ground, for the loss of 14, “United States Bth Air Force heavy bombers, bombing road and rail communicatoins opposite the battle area, shot down 44 German aeroplanes. Thirteen bombers and 19 fighters are missing. , “Royal Air Force Spitfires and Mustangs shot up two military trams near Coblenz, seriously damaging both locomotives. German jet propelled fighters hovered near, but did not interfere. Marauders yesterday four times directly hit the important railway bridge at the west end of Lake Constance.” Reuter’s Paris correspondent says that 30,000 Allied airmen participated in the great assault yesterday against German columns, airfields, communications, and supply centres, mostly just behind the battle area. It is now known that the Luftwaffe hit back with 700 sorties, which represents the Germans’ greatest tactical effort ol the war. A B B.C. correspondent says that ‘he great Allied offensive of the last two'days has gone'a long way towards isolating the battle aiea florn Germany. Snow, which cove s the countryside, has made it easy to observe all enemy ground movements and heavy damage and l° sses have been inflicted by the air ioices. M ell over 500 German aircraft have be°n destroyed since von Rundstedt s offensive began. The Allies have loct 368 aircraft, including 43 lost yesterday; but this figure is not comparable with the German losses, because of the vastly greater number of S ° Am American air communique rivinr results of the great air attack on Sunday by 2000 heavy bombers escorted by 900 fighters, says tha reconnaisance photographs show th nt ipoqf of 11 aerodromes which we e bombed in the Frankfurt area Pave been made temporarily unserhcetbir Twenty-two bombers and 13 fighters are missing fiom the nu rt air fleet.

KOBLENZ AND BONN

RUGBY. December 26. Two marshalling yards in the KobJenya area and rail bridges between Koblenz and Bonn were attacked on Tuesday by aPP roximat ®. l X b l 5 ? T ,Jtfpa erators and Fortresses oi the United States Bth Air Force, accompanied by more than 300 Mustangs Tnunderbolts of the same command Most of the bombing was visual. Lhe tai-o-ets handle rail traffic for die German armies on the Western Front . A correspondent with the Ist Ax my says that Continental-based fighters, fighter-bombers and medium bombers of the 2nd Tactical Air Force have during the last three days, added th full weight of their available strength on enemy positions, transport, and communications in the battle area. Three days’ fine weather have enabled the combined Allied air groups io effect destruction of the enemy transport to a degree described as getting towards the Falaise standard. Saturday’s and Sunday’s sorties in which the 2nd Tactical Air Force played a partly offensive and partly policing role, produced for the combined Allied Tactical Air Forces the record figure of 196 enemy aircraft destroyed, eight probably destroyed, and 55 damaged. 302 road vehicles destroyed and 280 damaged. Over the past three days there has been a considerable falling off in the number of aircraft the Luftwaffe has put into the air. There were only 300 German sorties on Monday. . 1 , British heavy bombers went into action to-day in the midst of the Western Front battle. Lancasters and Halifaxes crashed great bomb-loads on panzers and troops in the fiercely contested Saintvith area. Only a few enemy planes were seen.

BOMBS ON PARIS.

LONDON, December 26

Unidentified aircraft bombed Paris, to-night, says Reuter’s correspondent at SHAEF. The Ninth Air Force in 1383 sorties, to-day, shot down 49 German planes for the loss of one medium bomber and 18 fighter-bombers.

ATTACKS ON SHIPPING.

RUGBY, December 26

Anti-shipping pilots of the R.A.F. Coastal Command had a busy Christmas attacking enemy shipping operations north-west of The Hague and south of Heligoland under cover of darkness, says the Air Ministry. Since Christmas Eve Beaufighters and Wellingtons have made 14 separate attacks with bombs and rockets. Darkness prevented accurate observation of the results, but hits were claimed on three vessels. From these operations, none of our aircraft is missing. TELEVISION. NEW YORK, November 4. An Indianapolis invention which may solve the problem of transmitting television programmes to distant points was demonstrated yesterday. It makes it possible to send television signals over an ordinary telephone line. The new process has been adapted to the production of records, which can be used for the. reproduction of both sound and image. It will make it possible to transform existing wireless sets into television receivers. __________