BREMEN’S TURN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20821, 27 June 1942, Page 3

BREMEN’S TURN

1000-BOMBER RAID THIRD IN~ MONTH 52 PLANES MISSING VARIED OTHER TARGETS (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (11.30 a.m.) LONDON, June 26. Making its third 1000-bomber raid within a month, the Royal Air Force last night concentrated its main attack on the large and important German seaport of Bremen. Cloud prevented full observation of the results of the attack, but pilots stated that it was believed that good results had been achieved and that many large fires were left burning. Bremen has a population of about 350,000 people and is one of Germany’s largest shipping centres. Situated on the River Weser, about 46 miles from its mouth, it is only 77 .miles from Hamburg. It is' the headquarters of the famous North German Lloyd Steam Ship Company and is a large shipbuilding centre and also has very large engineering works. Various other targets were attacked by the Royal Air Force during the night, and diversionary operations were carried out by fighters and fighter-bombers. Loss of 5 Per Cent of Raiders From all the operations, 52 machines are missing, this, being the heaviest loss in any of the 1000-bomber raids, but still only about 5 per cent of the machines taking part. The Air Ministry states: “Last night very large forces of aircraft drawn from all home operational commands of the Royal Air Force were in operation. The bombing force consisted of more than 1000 aircraft and the main objective was Bremen, the enemy’s second largest port and one of the principle centres of submarine production. Large fires were seen, but considerable heavy cloud made accurate observation of the results difficult. “To disorganise the enemy’s defences, many airfields in the Low Countries were subjected to intensive harassing attacks by a second forces of bombers and fighters. In the course of these intruder operations and in many combats which took place between our bombers and enemy fighters, some enemy aircraft were destroyed or damaged.” The Berlin News Agency, in reporting that the Royal Air Force had attacked several towns in north Germany, stated that the heaviest raid was against Bremen. An Air Ministry communique states that in a sweep over the western Channel last evening our fighters attacked enemy shipping off the coast of Brittany. Two of our fighters are missing. ______________