BREMEN RAIDED

Grey River Argus, 5 June 1942, Page 5

BREMEN RAIDED

ON. WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

(Rec. 11.30). LONDON. June 4 Bremen was the object of raids by a'strong R.A.F. force on Wednesday night. Bremen is second to Hamburg in importance 1 as a port, and is the home of dive-bomber, Focke Wulfe, and U-boat manufacture. Ithas steel and oil refinery works. Raids were also made on France in the Dieppe area. Ten bombers and two fighters were lost by the R.A.F. in, the nights operations.

THE MONSTER RAIDS.

LONDON, J'une 3

Raids by 1,000 or more planes are not to be reckoned a continuous R.A.F. policy, in view of the much extra work .involved It was a fine organisational effort to put over 1,000 planes over Cologne in 90 minutes, but 2,000 could be sent over in twice that time, and separate forces of 1,000 could be sent over m one 4 two or three hours, without the organisation becoming difficult, providing the target areas did not clash When only 40 or 50 planes come over in one hour, anti-aircraft gunners can concentrate, but when a vast number follow each other in a very short time, the defences are liable to be saturated. A.R.P. and fire services are overwhelmed, and more fires started than can be coped with. “Monster” raids, it is pointed out, are quite different from' a sustained scale of attack the R.A.F. can carry out on the basis of a. given first-line strength. Figures, of aircraft in the raids hitherto remained between 200 and' 300. . Behm these forces have been a large number being serviced or repaired, or reserve training aircraft, oi' - actually r in reserve.

The big raids are a special effort, and not yet to be regarded) as continuous. German propaganda is anxious to under-estimate the size of the R.A.F. forces. On. each of | three night they claimed fewer aircraft destroyed than the R.A.F. admitted. The newspaper, “Volkischer Beobachter,” said German civilian casualties have been less than R.A.F. losses in crews alone. These statistics will probably mystify awe-struck inhabitants of Cologne, where civilian casualties are considered to run ,-welii into four figures. I The Air Ministry reveals that during the month, R.A.F. planes made 'over 7,000 flights in the_ course of daylights, sweeps over occupied France. A daily average of 250 fighters was used. Apart from enemy I ’planes destroyed at night and while protecting coastal shipping the equivalent of fifteen complete enemy, tighter squadrons was destroyed in the first five months of 1942 in the Fighter Command’s daylight sweeps over enemy occupied territory. The ’sweeps mark the beginning of a second front in the West, where nearly fifty per cent, of the total German fighter force is retained to 1 meet Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Command offensives. The Fighter Command continues to shoot down more enemy fighters than it loses. Replying to the suggestion that aircraft engaged in the sweeps would be more usefully employed in distant theatres of war, the Air Ministry points out that if the fighter sweeps were abandoned, it would not help to add a single squadron to overseas fighter fronts. The bottleneck to reinforcement of fighter strength in distant fronts is ■ entirely a matter of transport. There are no more fighters in-Britain, than necessary for the defence against air attack and the possibility of invasion. Well over 2,000 planes of British make engaged in operations over Europe and European waters, during the 24’ hours .which included Monday night’s great raid on the Ruhr. In addition to over a thousand bombers which took part, the R.A.F. also operated over a thousand fighters in fighter sweeps, provision of fighter cover attacks on shipping, and defensive action.

Mr. Paul Winterton, the 8.8. C. observer in Moscow, in a special' cable message, said that the raid on the Ruhr has given the people of Moscow the greatest satisfaction.

I The Washington “Post”i recalls that when the war,began Hitler made the mistake of telling the German oeople that the homeland could not be'bombed. “Even the most fanatical supporter of the Nazi leaders I must now be showing signs of cracking up,” it says. i A Berne message says that since the big British raid on Cologne on ‘ Saturday night no copies of the great i Cologne newspaper. “Kolnische ZeiItung,” have’reached Switzerland, and that since Monday’s raid on Essen no copies cf the city’s main, newspaper have been received. A message from Washington says that the news of the raid electrified the capital, which had not yet recovered from its excitement at the withering attack on Cologne. At Le Havre and Cherbourg bomb bursts were seen in the dock areas. All the Bostons returned safely in suite of heavy anti-aircraft fire over the target. Great clouds of smoke pnd debris were left over the docks. There was nd enemv fighter oonosition. The escorting Czech Spitfire smiadron had a series of dogfights on the way out.