ESSEN BLITZED

Grey River Argus, 4 June 1942, Page 5

ESSEN BLITZED

OVER 1,000 BOMBERS

Monday Nights Follow-up

LONDON, June 2. On Monday night, following Saturday nights oig raid on Cologne, one thousand and rhirty-six R.A.lj'. bombers, raided the Essen district in the Ruhr, VVestern Germany, just north of the Cologne area. Thirty-five of the pian.es were lost in the raids. Mr. Churchill stated in Parliament that many widespread fires were caused. The Krupp works are in the Essen area. Every bomber engaged was a British product. The Air Ministry News Service says: The area attacked packed, with vital war factories and mines, is less than twice the area of Berlin. It is not a single target, like Cologne, but a. bewildering maze of landmarks—canals, railways, and great industrial buildings. ft is the h.ghest test for navigators. Nevertheless, it is still possible to saturate the defences of tne area by getting swarms of bombers over at one time. It is still possible to send intruders 'at the moment of the main attack, to keep the Gorman night fighter squadrons engaged over their aerodromes, and prevent a large number from converging on the Ruhr. The losses in this devastating raid were under 3i per cent, of the total attacking force. The R.A.F. Fighter Command sent out one of its largest “intruder” forces of the war, with the dual object of raiding enemy-occupied territory and diverting the defences from the main bomber forces flying into Germany. Bostons and bombcarrying Hurricanes, while drawing to themselves the attention of the enemy's flak gunners, for exampie, bombed several airfields and attacked shipping and railways in Holland, Belgium and France. At least, one enemy aircraft was destroyed. The raid continued the settled British policy of wrecking German industry and communications. It is pointed out in London that the importance' of Essen as a communications centre is shown by the fact that it handies about one-quarter of outgoing and 15 per cent, of incoming freight traffic in Germany. It is the centre of the densely populated and highly industralised Ruhr belt where the effects of bombing are not likely to be confined to direct hits on plant and equipment, because the general dislocation will have a potent effect on the industrial output. The amount of real damage, therefore, will not be assessable by photographs alone, when it is possible for these to be taken. The R.A.F.’s feat in sending out a thousand bombers again staggered even senior R.A.F. officers. The majority of the officers believed it would be some time before another raid could be made on the same ■scale, but a senior R.A.F. Intelligence Officer said the organisation for a ■thousand nightly bomber offensives has now passed the experimental stage, and that there is no reason why two thousand, or even four thousand bombers, should not fly to Germany in one' night. New lessons in manipulating hundreds of planes, learned during the raid on Satur day night, simplified the organisation for last night’s raid. Bombers left scores of aerodromes m Britain and joined in the procession to the Ruhr, and attacked targets with mechanical precision. Many of the planes and crews which were engaged in the raid on Saturday, participated on Monday night. All types of bombers were employed in the k-ard which was the forty, fifth against Essen, the home of tm Krupp works, where 250,000 people ere employed. Alrmy Co-operation Command planes, whose duty it is to dislocate enemy fighter stations m <the neighbourhood of the found that some enemy aerodromes were illuminated, and busily engaged in getting off fighters. The Secretary of State for Air congratulating the Bomber Command on its blows at Cologne and the Ruhr, said: The enemy knows that the next climax will be more tremendous still.” Mr. Churchill said in the House of Commons he did not suppose tmr all future raids would be on the same scale; but German cities, harbours a!nd centres of war P r t’on would be subjected to an ordeal such as had never been experienced by anv other country. These raids marked the beginning of a new phase in the British a.ir offensive, and would increase in scale wheni -l 01 as thev will be shortly, by the A.r Fences of the United States. German cities, harbours, and centres of war production would be subjected to an ordeal, the like of which was never before experienced in any country m continuity, severity and magnitude. The methods of attack would be continually varied according to circumstances. The two great ni o h bombing raids marked the introduction of a new phase. Hardly had the last of the night intruders over occupied territory landed, than day squadrons were in action this morning, with a largescale swe'ep over the Gravelines—lardlelot a?ea. With the Spitfires went bomb-carrying Hurricanes A formation of Spitfires drove off a force of FW. 190 s, though outnumbored by four to one. , One ' Hurricane pilot, flying at I nearly 20 feet, 15 miles inside France had most of the fin and practically the whole of the starboard tail plane destroyed bv the propellor of another aircraft Nevertheless, he was able to vo on and bomb a railway stat:on° before turning for home, where he landed safely at 120 miles per hour without flaps. . Reports from Cologne state it is Hill invisible, because of smoke, it is pointed out that .while German industries are being destroyed, the Alfies are being su PP 1 f j ed p^s^ e "nd touched factories of Russia anu night an attack was directed against Zeebrugge. The Ist American Eagle Squadron participated in . the sweep A 23-year old American pilot shot down on enemy fighter, while a Belgian fight er accounted for another. The Al lied forces lost one fighter, but al the bombers got back safely. German broadcasts for home c sumption state 'that the Luftwalt will strike back and deal terrible - ■tribution, and claim that the force is strong enough to do this, without diminishing its efforts m other theatres.

Second Essen Raid

ON TUESDAY NIGHT.

(Rec. 12.50.) LONDON, June 3. A strong force of Royal Air Force bombers on Tuesday night again attacked Essen and also other objectives in the Ruhr. The scale of the operations was not comparable with that of the previous night’s attack, although the weather was good. Smoke and ground haze made observations difficult, but the results are believed to be satisfactory.