RUHR FLOODS STILL SPREADING

Grey River Argus, 20 May 1943, Page 5

RUHR FLOODS STILL SPREADING

THOUSANDS OF DEAD AND HOMELESS

DAMAGE TO TRANSPORT AND POWER

Fifty-four Towns and Villages Affected

I Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Ftec 1130.) LONDON, May 19. Reports reaching London this morning indicate that at least h ty four towns and villages have been flooded as a result of the bombing of the Ruhr dams. The German Atmy has rushed a detachment of nine thousand sappers to the flooded areas to help in rescue work. Thousands of people are camping on high ground along the rivers Ruhr a net Weser. Hail and ram storms and freezing temperatures aie adding to their discomfort. Kassel is practically an island, while other towns, including Dottmund. are knee-deep in water. Aeroplanes and equipment on Duisbergs low-lying aerodrome are being evacuated. and shipping f%om Duisbergs great inland docks is being taken upstream to the safety of the Rhine. In Neheim houses are awash to the second storey. Practically all livestock was washed away.

GERMAN LEADERS TO INSPECT DAMAGE. (Rec. 12.25.) LONDON. May 19. Reports received in Zurich from Berlin state that Dr. Goebbels. Herr Himmler, and Herr Bohron left Berlin by special 'plane to inspect the Kassel and Ruhr district. Dortmund Threatened PHOTOGRAPHS SHOW EXTENT OF DAMAGE. (Rec. 10.10.) LONDON, May 18Great floods are still swirling down the Ruhr Valleys from the Mohne and Eder Dams, breached in one or the R.A.F’s. boldest and most successful exploits of the war. Despite the iron censorship, Swedish coirespondents in Berlin state that the authorities there admit that there aie housands of victims and great damage. The “Allegemeine Zeitung says: “The R.A.F. converted the districts between the Rhine and the Ruhr into a theatre of war by continuous battering.” There is absolute silence about the total destinetion in whole areas. According to the Morocco radio, complete inundation threatens Dortmund and the number of dead and homeless is growing hourly. f photographed published in the London morning papers, taken a few hours after the Mohne . Dam was breached, shows the Mohne Lake nearlv drained. Other photographs show' uncontrolled torrents sweeping all before them. One depicts the former busy centre of Froedenberg -Boesperde, thirteen miles from the Mohne Dam. Here the floods submerged roads, isolated electricity works, destroyed road and rail bridges, wrecked railway plant, and submerged tracks and sidings. According to London sources, the official German figures indicated that unusually high water levels were recorded to-day in the Rhine at Duisburg, where the river Ruhr enters the Rhine, and in the Weser, below The Berlin radio reported that the Weser, below Kassel had risen about eight feet. The Rhine at the town of Ruhrort, north of Duisburg, was swollen by about sixty-six inches, while even at Emmerich, on the Rhine, near the Dutch frontier, the rise was nearly two feet.

TRANSPORT AND POWER SUFFER. (Rec. 10.15.) ' LONDON, May 18. While the floods are spreading in the upper valleys of the Ruhr and Weser, the greatest loss may be suffered in the industrial areas lower down, says “The Times’s’’ diplomatic correspondent. Factories constantly bombed from the air, and now with the water supply threatened, are like an armoured division cut off from most of its petrol while under heavy bombardment. The floods directly affect .hydro-electric power plants. Some have been destroyed outright, but the area depends on hydro-electric power to only a small degree. Coal was the great producer of electricity. Now at every stage from mine to power station, there is the threat of dislocation through lack of water. Moreover, transport suffers didectly, for just when the Germans were wanting to be assured of supplies for the Russian fighting, when the fresh dangers in the Mediterranean call for fresh supplies thither, great damage has been done in that part of Germany where war factories are centred and communications are thick. The “Daily Telegraph” says: The situation in the Ruhl' and Weser Valleys is so critical that the Germans have imposed a most rigid censorship on any details of the disaster. However, there was, a slip-up when the German stations to-day broadcast the daily inland waterways reports, showing a phenomenal rise in the Weser and Ruhr waters.

THREAT TO ITALY’S COAL SUPPLY. (Rec. 11.5.) LONDON, May 18. The “Daily Telegraph” notes that German news bulletins contained no reference to the disasterous breaching of the Mohne and Eder Dams for nearly thirty hours after the issue of a communique admitting the breaching of the dams. Then, as was to be expected, they blamed the Jews. The Berlin radio, referring to Mr Guy Bettany’s story cabled yesterday said: “Telling light has been thrown on this criminal terror attempt. Bettany leaves no doubt that the attempt on the dams is a crime incited by the Jews. The debit account of the Jews in this war is growing bigger and bigger.” .The “Daily Telegraph” points out, that most of the coal sent from Germany to Italy under the agreement to supply a million tons monthly, has come from Upper Silesia, but the Ruhr disaster will throw a greater burden on the Upper Silesian coalfields in supplying Germany herself. Thus Italy’s coal supply will be imperilled. The R.A.F. reconnaissance has been able to keep a constant watch on developments since the breaching of the dams, says the “Daily Mail’s” aviation correspondent. Aerial cameras are now gathering information at an amazing rate from all over Germany. There does not appear to be that the Germans can now hide.

The “Daily Express’s” Stockholm correspondent reports that General Goering to-day held a conference of Air Chiefs, about the means of defeating what the German newspapers call “the R.A.F’s. new tactics."

state OF EMERGENCY. RUGBY, May 17. Swiss reports says that a state of emer-enev has been declared over Fm-e”areas Railways and industries are reported to be almost at a standstill. WESTPORT PILOT IN RAID. fCneei'il fo N.Z. Press Assn.) (Rec 55) LONDON, May 18. Flying’ Officer L. Chambers of Westoort and Flight Lieutenant J. Munroe of Gisborne took part in the big raid against the German dams.

Thousands Dead

AT LEAST 120,000 HOMELESS.

LONDON, May 18. Roni er’s Stockholm correspondent says the German underground radio has proclaimed a state of siege the whole of the Westphalia lollowing the R.A.F. blasting of the three dams. Mulheim and many cities in Westphalia are under water. I Thousands were drowned and many were homeless as the result of tl . breaking of the dams. Swedish correspondents at Berlin are forbidden to comment on tl.e blowing up of the dams. . “Dagensnyheter s Berlin correspondent was tola “Since the dams were military objectives, nothing can be added to the I official report.” . _ A leading Swedish dam-building 'expert told the same newspaper that it would take at least six months to ‘repair the dams. Reports from Berne say the information received from private channels indicates that at least four thousand were killed and 120,000 are homeless in the upper Ruhr-Weser Valievs. The railways of the Ruhr are reported to be virtually brought to a standstill. Scenes of disorder and tumult occurred at Duisberg and Mulheim, where the public are apprehensive about air-raids, because the shelters are flooded. . The Exchange Telegraph’s Zurich correspondent says that turbine experts who worked quite recently on the Mohne dam consider the blowing up of the dams as the greatest catastrophe Germany has suffered since the outbreak. Most telephone communications with Kassel, Dortmund, and Duisberg are interrupted. It is learned in London that photographs taken to-day show extensive flooding in the neighbourhood of Kassel. Floods have also been spreading towards the centre of the Ruhr. According to official German figures, unusually high water levels have been recorded to-day, in the Rhine at Duisberg, where the Runr enters, and in Weser below Kassel. A reconnaissance, to-day, showed the Mohne dam to be nearly empty, and the breach in the Eder dam is nearly the same size as that in the Mohne, namely three hundred feet.

FLOODS STILL SPREADING.

RUGBY, May 18.

The great floods caused by the breaching of the huge Mohne and Eder Dams are still' spreading. Reconnaissance photographs taken today show that the Eder waters have now reached some outlying districts of Assel, 35 miles away, and are covering the flat country around. On the way they flooded a generator house and transformer enclosure of the Bringhausen power station. Seven hours later most of this water was drained away, but photograpm of the switch and transformer plant showed that it was silting up, with part of the northern section washed away. . ~ An embankment forming the northern edge of the compensating basin between Hemfurth and Affoldern had been destroyed at several points and the whole valley was under water. At Affoldern the power station was flooded and the embankment demolished, while the whole- area between Wabern and Flensberg some 16 miles downstream from the dam, was completely under water. Railway station sidings at Wabern were flooded and the embankment was broken away. Isolated buildings could be seen above water, but railways, roads and bridges had been completely submerged. There appeared to be much water still pouring from the dam. _ The breach at the Eder Dam was as big as that made at the Mohne Dam. Though the full extent of the floodm- caused by the breach in the Mohne Dam is not yet known the water is spreading towards the centre of the P-uhr. It must have covered a great area by now since the reservoir which contained 134.000.000 tons of water is now nearly empty, states the Air Ministry News Service Even yesterday, it was known that much havoc had been caused. Between the Mohne and Nehen the water appeared to be fairly confined. but ini the’ flatter part of the ' Ruhr Valley west of Wickede, vast I stretches of the countryside had been flooded. In the damage at Froendenberg the heavy embankements of the I canal had been destroyed, and the power station isolated. The lailway ' bridge and the road bridge were swept away, and broken parts oi them were seen down stream, ine railway station and sidings were inundated and several passenger coaches were swept off the track One photograph showed a factory partly submerged and water works completely flooded. x , A 8.8. C. commentator to-night sai"d: Many of the immediate results of the catastrophe are quite unpredictable. Such things have not been done before, and precautions against them could hardly have been taken by the Germans. The Eder Dam was built to stop the River Weser flooding, causing damage, an stopping navigation. The dam fed three electric power stations. IMPORTANCE OF MOHNE DAMRUGBY. May 18 By far the most important of the targets hit was the Mohne Dam ! which has already emptied many millions of tons of water down the 1 valley of the Ruhr. The damage and dislocation it would cause was part pf the whole damage and dislocation the R.A.F. has been inflicting on the industrial heart of Germany in everincreasing weight, particularly in the last two months. , A The bridges over the Ruhr between the dam itself and Duisburg would

probably be faced with something like ten times a maximum flood flow in the Ruhr. The Ruhr, like many rivers running down through hilly country, rose and fell in a wet and dry season. On an average, before the Mohne Dam was built, the flow in a wet season would be three times as great as in the Summer months. Storage dams, of which the Mohne was by far the. biggest were made to regulate the river by holding up the Winter rainfall and letting it out during the dry season. While Germany was re-arming and stepping up industrial production the industries of, the Ruhr became the mainstay of the war machine. The Germans felt some concern as to whether the water supply would not be over-taxed. Now the reserves of Winter rainfall have gone roaring down the valley to- the Rhine Local authorities have certainly been set. a problem. They would find it hard, trip commentator concluded, to form an estimate, to-day, of what supplies they could rely on getting through the Summer to meet the demands that simply must be met. It is officially stated that further examination of photographs shows that parts of the important industrial town of Kassel have been flooded

WAR CABINET’S CONGRATULA. TIONS. RUGBY. May 18. “The War Cabinet has instructed me to convey to all who shared in the preparation and execution of Sunday night’s operations—particularly Wing Commander Gibson and his squadron—their congratulations on the great success achieved,” stated the Secretary of State for Air in a message to the c ° m ™a, l ? d V+h l Z Chief, Bomber Command. That the attack was pressed home in the lace of strong resistance is a testimony alike to the tactical and energy of those who planned it, to the gallantry and determinations of the air crews, and to the excellence of British design and workmanship. The War Cabinet noted with satisfaction the damage done to German war power.” •

ENEMY SHIPPING ATTACKED. ■"rugby, May 18. Two attacks by Coastal Command aircraft one yesterday and one in moonUght this y morning, on an enemy convoyi off the Dutch coast, damaged five out of eight supply vessels, and three out of six escort ships..A pilot in the second attack saw two supply ships poking with (leeks awash and the yprews scrambling ‘to lifeboat... Two aircraft are missing. The attacks were escorted by V* ers Torpedo-carrying .Af two large merchantmen ed for shore, and the Gtncr '>■•>-> lei< burning. A smaller supply skip was damaged. The escort ship* were ra.v ed with cannon fire, three being se 011 Bostons bombed Abbeville airfield to-dav their escort' of Spitfires shooting down aFW 190. Earlier in the day, Typhoons attacked the airfield at Poix, and dropped bombs in the dispersal areas, causing Ine.. aircraft is missing. cervine The Air Ministry News -Servic. says- A New Zealander, Squadron leader G. D. Wise, D.F.C., command ed the torpedo-carrying Beau ML which attacked the convoy off the Dutch coast.

WIDESPREAD RAIDS ON TRANSPORT.

8.0.W. RUGBY, May 18. . The Air Ministry New's Service says that more trains, lorries and canal traffic were shot up by Fig er Command intruder and long-range aircraft over occupied territory last n 'A 1 Whirlwind bomber attacked a convoy of forty lorries north-west of Ghent. The pilots saw a lorry blown to pieces, another set on fire, and several turned over. The seaplane base at Concarnau, on Brest Peninsula, was. shot up by a Polish squadron. A pilot flying a Mosquito put out of action a large searchlight which tried to illuminate the cliff top above the base. The pilot then turned his attention to a seaplane control boat at the end of he flare path. His cannon set this on fire and sank it quickly. Five trains were damaged by Beaufighters in the Volledeu-Guingame area. Near Corral (Northern France) another Whirlwind saw two trains going in opposite directions. Bombs on one brought a big flash with an intermittent red glow from the engine, then the Whirlwind turned found and scored hits on the engine of the second train. Shortly before dusk Typhoon bombers, escorted by Typhoons, attacked an airfield in Northern France. Two of our fighters are missing. Headquarters of the United States Army in Europe state that P. 47’s on offensive patrol in strength over Belgium, this afternoon, engaged an enemy formation and destroyed an M.E. 109 with the loss of one' Thunderbolt. The enemy broke off the action and another formation sighted took evasive action.

U.S. AIR ACTIVITY.

LONDON. Ma” 18

The United States Army Air Force Headquarters announced that their bombers shot down 121 enemv fighters durin°- operations on Mav 13, 14, and 15. The bombers struck in force with good results against targets at Meaulte, St. Omer, Emden and other installations in north-west. Germany, as well as Velsen and Antwerp. Twenty bombers were lost.