R.A.F. BOMBS STUTTGART

Grey River Argus, 25 November 1942, Page 5

R.A.F. BOMBS STUTTGART

Engine Works Hit

i LONDON,! November 23. A strong force of Royal Air Force bombers last night attacked, targets in Germany for the first! time in a fortnight. Their objective was Stuttgart, the centre of a key Industrial district, where .aircraft and U-boat engines are made. The heuuquarteis of the Bosch and Daimler-Benz firms making engines for Messerschmitts and Heinkels, are in Stuttgart, which is also an important rail junction. Ten British bombers are missing from the raid. The Air Ministry states: Large flares were dropped by the Bomber Command on Sunday night and many fires raised in the city brilliantly lit the snow on the hills around Stuttgart. The attacking force included several squadrons of Stirlings, none of which type was lost. In addition to a number of heavy explosives, the Stirlings alone dropped thirtytons of incendiaries. The crew of one of the last Stirlings to attack repot ted the target area was well ablaze. United States Army Air Force bombers supported by R.A.F, fighters attacked the enemy submarine oaseat St. Nazaire on Monday. Allied fighters attacked a goods train in Northern France, and an enemy supply ship was set on fire in the Channel. The Ministry of Aircraft Production (Mr Llewellyn) told aircraft workers, to-dav, that during 1942 Britain had trebled her heavy bomber output. Pie added: Only the night before last, the Stirlings which you produced took part with, effect in the biggest raid yet made on Italy. These bombers, whether Stirlings, Lancasters, Halifaxes or Wellingtons, arp doing great damage to vital factories and all important railways, both in Italy and Germany. We have many reports from the latter country telling of the immense damage done, and the effect on morale.

Cologne Damage 250 FACTORIES AND 40,000 HOUSES. (Rec. 11.10) WASHINGTON, Nov. 24. Air Commodore Thornton, British Air Attache at Washington, declared: “The British air raid on Cologne did more damage than the San Francisco earthquake fire. It destroyed or damaged 250 war factories, and also destroyed twenty thousand buildings. It damaged twenty thousand more. We do not call a building destroyed until it is possible to see from the roof to the cellar. We have every reason to believe that German industrial cities have been greatly damaged, thus weakening the German Army wherever it is located. Our victorious Libyan operation is another example of air superiority.'' States and Vichy. TRIPOLI BOMBED. RUGBY, Nov. 23. The United States Army Headquarters at Cairo says: R.A.F. Liberators, operating under control of the Bomber Command Ninth United States force, attacked Tripoli-Har-bour in the, early hours yesterday, scoring hits on the Spanish mole and starting at. least four new fires. This attack followed earlier ones by the Bomber Command B 24’s. Pilots of the Liberators found that the pall of smoke from these earlier attacks shut shipping in the harbour completely from view.

TURKEY ON ALLIED SIDE? LONDON PRESS REPORT LONDON, Nov. 23. Hitler is likelv to attempt a sudden attack on Turkey with limited objectives in her European territory. The London “Daily Express” correspondent at Istanbul stated: There are three reasons why this move is likely: First, it would give Hitler a quick spectacular move, admirable for diverting attention from German failures elsewhere; secondly, it would give him control of the Dardanelles, and enable him to dispatch the Italian fleet against the Russian Black Sea fleet; thirdly, it would enable Hitler to make the best use of Bulgaria’s 500,000 soldiers by sending them against Turkey and exploiting the traditional hostility between the two countries. Slowlv but surely, German counter-moves against British and American action in North Africa are putting Turkey in a position where it is possible to predict that the Turks, despite themselves, will be involved in the . war on the side of the United Nations.