R.A.F. OFFENSIVE IN FRANCE

Grey River Argus, 2 May 1942, Page 5

R.A.F. OFFENSIVE IN FRANCE

ANOTHER PARIS RAID Works Destroyed [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn J LONDON, Apr.r 30. Large fires were lett burning by the Royal Air Force bombers which last night made low-level attacks .on the Gnome-Rhone aero-engine works, near Paris, and the adjoining Goodrich rubber works. 'lne A.r Ministry describes the attack as heavy. From all last nights, operations, six British aircraft are missing. A Vichy message states that bo were killed and 150 were injured in the R.A.F. raid last night on a northwest suburb of Pans. Many houses were partially destroyed, and a hospital was hit. The raid lasted for CWO and three-quarter hours. • An Air Ministry communique: states: Last night, our bombers, in an attack on the Gnome Rhone aero engine factory and the Goodrich ruboer .works at Gennevilliers, found that the Germans had strengthened their anti-aircraft defences, but this did not prevent the attack being made from a low level. Large fires were left burning, in both works. The docks at Ostend, and aerodromes in the Low Countries, were also bombed, and mines were laid in enemy waters. A number of enemy aerodromes in occupied territory were also attacked by fighters, i The offensive sweeps of the Royal Air Force over northern France were continued to-day. It is believed that several formations of aircraft carried out a sweep in the Calais area. Heavy explosions were heard in coastal districts in England, and buildings were shaken. The explosions were the heaviest heard for some time. Later t the aircraft were seen coming back, flying very high. Visibility was good.

In spite of a wind which at times reached gale force, Fighter Command squadrons were again over northern France in strength yesterday for the seventy consecutive day. Escorting a small force of Boston bomber?, fighters swept across the Channel to Dunkirk’, wher« in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire, nombs were seen to fall on a dock. No enemy aircraft were sighted. A battle over northern France was fought at nearly 3.3.000 feet between a high-flying wing and about 100 enemy fighters. The pilot of one Polish squadron which engaged 30 Focke Wulf 190’s v at a height of 28,000 feet, quickly destroyed one and probably a second. Another Polish squadron had a fight with 15 Focke Wulf 190’s, one of which went down.

It is officially stated that R.A.F. fighters were active over the Channel and occupied France, to-day. Enemy shipping was attacked off the north coast of Brittany by fighters and Hurriqane bombers. Later in the morning, a strong force of fighters swept the Calais area, and escorted a formation of Bostons to Le Havre, where the docks were bombed.

Seven major offensives, in which targets on a four-hundred mile front, from Brittany to Flushing, were attacked, were carried out in daylight on Thursday by the R.A.F. This was the eight day of their nonstop offensive operations. An Air Ministry communique describes the day’s operations:— , "Many squadrons of fighters have been engaged on large-scale operations over the Channel and Northern France <to-day. In an attack on enemy shipping off_ the north coast of Brittany, this morning, Hurricane bombers hit and damaged a German destroyer. Bostons were escorted in attacks on docks at Le Havre, and Flushing, and railway yards at Abbeville. Fighter sweeps were also made over the Calais area.

Six enemy fighters were destroyed during the day’s operations. Four or our fighters are missing.

Trondheim Raids GERMAN GARRISON FLEES. LONDON, April 30. The R.A.F.’s recent attacks on Trondheim were of such fury that people fled in thousands, seeking refuge in the nearby forests, reports the “Standard’s” correspondent on the Swedish frontier. They xound that most of the German garrison, led by General Falkenhorst and. Admiral Boehm, were already there. Fugitives say that 75 heavy British bombers hammered the U-boat base for several hours. The harbour was like a sea of flames. Eye-wit-nesses declare the submarine base which took 5000 Danes two years to build, was completely ruined.

According to informed London opinion the Royal Air Force attacks on Trondheim, which the Germans have turned into a temporary naval base, are striking at the German naval forces which form a definite threat to Allied sea communications, not only to the north of Russia, but also in the North Atlantic. With the battleship Tirpitz, a sister ship of the Bismarck, at Trondheim are the Admiral Scheer and the damaged cruiser Prince Eugen. Geographically they are in a good position to strike at sea communications in the nortn in the same way as the Bismarck. They have the Bismarck’s fate to 1 remember and to warn them, but the Royal Air Force, meanwhile, is not prepared to Let. them rest quietly in their haven. With such important main forces, this message concludes it is inevitable that the Germans should also have light forces in the vicinity, and they, too, are in ■ a position to be attacked. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says that according to Berlin reports, 10,000 persons have been evacuated from Rostock. Few except guards and salvage workers remain.

The “Daily Mail” estimates that the Royal Air Force based in Britain during April dropped 3500 tons of bombs at night alone. Eighteen large-scale night raids were carried out. A maximum of 300 bombers were employed on one night. Big daylight operations were carried out with the exception of 10 days, and up to 600 fighters were employed on one day. >

The Home Secretary Mr, Herbc-H Morrison) spoke in the House of Commons .on Germany’s crocodile tears at the destruction of old German buildings. The foul cancer of Nazism had to be cut out, and until the operation was performed the German people would have to suffer, he sgid. Let the German people draw the moral.