ALMOST CUT OFF

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21671, 24 March 1945, Page 5

ALMOST CUT OFF

RUHR FACTORY AREA ALLIED AIfToNSLAUGHT spectacle” of ruins LONDON, March 22. The Ruhr, to all intents ancl purposes, is cut off from western Germany, following the latest massive Allied air attacks, which are described as the greatest air assault of all time, says Reuter’s correspondent at Second Tactical Air Force Headquarters. The combined bomber and tactical commands to-day left the front-line towns and fortified villages wrecked, smoking and in flames, reduced the roads to masses of craters, and had brought to a standstill all traffic behind General Blaskowitz’s front line toy early afternoon.

. Pilots returning from the raids reported that the entire area in and behind the German front lines are hidden under a haze from fires and great clouds of billowing smoke rising from the towns and villages. All the crews reported that the bombing was concentrated and accurate. The region of the devastation is spreading hourly. Heavy “Ilak” met the bombers, whose crews pressed home their attacks through curtains of fire.

One report on Alstatte, north oi Koesfeld, was the shortest yet received at Tactical Air Force Headquarters. It said: “This place existed.” American heavy bombers, switching from airfield targets north-east of the Ruhr, attacked Frankfurt airfields, where the Luftwaffe was believed to oc operating jet-planes. Duisberg Hard Hit The assault along the river front included the Duisburg railway yards, where railway installations anci rolling stock went up in smoke.

The British United Press correspondent with the 21st Army Group says the whole enemy transportation system has been so hacked about by me air force in the last few weeks that it is no longer considered an effective part of the German Army organisation. The whole area has been turned into a smoking wreck of marshalling yards, stations and shattered bridges. Approximately 700 Mustangs escorting tne R.A.F. and American heavies to-day covered Germany from Bremen, in the north-west, to Lake Constance, in the south, and beyond Berlin almost to the Russian lines in the east. The Luftwaffe declined the challenge, but 13 enemy planes were shot dowm in isolated encounters and nine more destroyed on the ground. V-2 Targets Pounded

To-day’s joint British and American pounding of military installations east of the Rhine did not interrupt the Tactical Air Force’s interdiction programme against V-2 routes in northern Holland. They cut 23 railway tines, mainly around The Hague.

The 'home-based and Europeanbased Allied air forces are now flying 8000 to 10,000 sorties daily, at times exceeding the effort before and after D-day, says the Daily Telegraph’s aviation correspondent. The bombload is sometimes 10,000 tons daily. The airmen, in their enthusiasm to hit targets, have been coming down to a few feet. The heavies’ daylight pinpointing has been particularly accurate. All the monthly records will be broken if the present weather continues until March 31.