TWO-HOUR BLITZ

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20634, 14 August 1941, Page 6

TWO-HOUR BLITZ

GERMAN CAPITAL HUGE FIRES IN ESSEN COLOGNE DEVASTATED (Elec. Tel Copyright—United Fresn Asan.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 2 p.m. RUGBY. Aug. 13. Further details of the widespread attacks by Royal Air Force bombers on Germany last night are given in an Air Ministry bulletin. In almost all areas, heavy cloud and bad weather were encountered. The weather kept the bombers over Berlin for a long time looking for their targets. One of the worst barrages yet faced met them. The Wellingtons, Manchesters, Stirlings and Halifaxes were over the German capital in a two-hour attack. Fires were seen to begin as white points of light, continue as a red glare bc-ncath the clouds, and end as a sullen glow in the- skies, which our crews could see for a great distance on the way back. One crew, back from Berlin, came into the interrogation room carrying wood from a German tree. The captain had come below the cloud and found himself grazing the top of a wooded hill. Fire Half a Mile Long A Stirling crossed the coast at 400 ft. and then cruised round the Ruhr, mostly at 300 ft. and never above 1000 ft. The pilot finally found a good target and dropped his load of bombs. At Essen, the weather allowed our crews to get to the armament works and start a tremendous fire about half a mile long. Neutral business men from Germany say that the Royal Air Force night raids have left Cologne almost unrecognisable. One told a British United Press correspondent on the German frontier that the Royal Air Force bombs had destroyed the Opera House,. most of the large hotels, the main station and many other important buildings, including large factories. The raids caused heavy civilian casualties. Another raid by the Royal Air Force enormously damaged industrial sections of the city, the pilots hitting their targets with what the Germans regard as uncanny accuracy.