TURIN RAIDED

Grey River Argus, 23 November 1942, Page 3

TURIN RAIDED

By Long Range Bomber Force FRIDAY NIGHT’S R.A.F. . EXPLOIT. LONDON, Nov. 22. The -Air Ministry stated: On Friday night a strong force of bombers attacked the North Italian city of Turin. The weather over the target was good. The attack was heavy and concentrated. Dense smoke from' many fires made observation of the result difficult. Italy to be Bombed TILL NATION -COLLAPSES (Rec. 8.40) LONDON, Nov. 21 The “Sunday Express” has a leading article on the Turin raid. It says: “Italy is only in the first stage of her career as a bomb target. Dei struction and terror of to-day are almost trivial compared with what she must endure to-morrow. We are about to make a test of how much bombing a nation can stand betore it collapses. No more suitable target could be found for such a test. The bombing of Britain was nothing compared to the bombing that is about to come to Italy.” 149 CASUALTIES. LONDON, Nov. 21. An Italian communique states: Waves of British planes last night dropped many incendiary bombs ana high explosive bombs on the city oi Turin, causing heavy damage in inc centre of the city. There were twenty-nine killed, and 120 wpre injured. GERMAN INTERCEPTION ATTEMPT. ENORMOUS WEIGHT OF BOMBS DROPPED. (Ripc 710) LONDON. Nov. 21. Detailed reports state German fighters were up on Friday P’S"*? not only over the French coast, but also a long way south into France. “ They aimed to intercept a greatforce of heavy and medium bombers which attacked Turin city. Ihe German planes met with little sucFlares lighted Turin as R.A.F. bombers began to arrive in almost an uninterrupted procession. Soon . fires were raging. Haze and smoke made it difficult to see. The weight of the attack on the city can be judged from the fact, officially made known, that aircraft of a single bomber group dropped fifty 4000-lb. • bombs, and 110 thousand pounds of incendiaries in just under an hour. This was at a rate of four thousand pounds per minute and 301bs of incendiaries per second. NEW YORK, Nov. 20.

Mr Drew Middleton, a correspondent of the “New York Times” said: Guided by very complete intelligence reports and hundreds of aerial photographs, American troops easily found their wav in the strange country, of Algeria. ‘ The principal buildings in each town and homes of leading military and civilians figures were clearly marked. Landing forces knew the location and strength of each French batterv, every troop' unit, political affiliation, and all officers and civilian officials. When the troops landed on the beaches, figures emerged from the darkness whispered! a password and guided them inland. The R.A.FfI flew Sunderlands, Hudsons, Liberators and reinforcements of Halifaxes from Bomber Command on a mileage equivalent to more than fifty times round the world in covering "the convoys to North Africa. JMbre than 1500 hours were spent es-

corting convoys from the western seaboard and 300 on direct of ensive U-boat hunting. If to this total is added the record of the Gibraltar unit, the total becomes approximately 8000 fying hours.