R.A.F. RAID

Grey River Argus, 22 June 1943, Page 5

R.A.F. RAID

ON SCHNEIDER WORKS Very Little Opposition ‘ [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, June 20. ! For the R.A.F. home-based 4-engin-led bombers attack on Saturday night on the Schneider armament works at Le Creusot, in Central France, 320 miles from the nearest point of the English coast, there was brilliant moonlight soon after’ the planes toox off. The Schneider works have been the French equivalent of the Krupps works in Germany, the biggest in France, extending over 270 acres, producing big guns, armour plate, and i ra'ilwayj.engines, the latter in a greati er quantity than any enemy centre ! outside Germany. An electrical ! transformer station at Montchanin, five miles further south, was also atI tacked. This supplies power to ne Creusot. Three bombers were lost. < The last raid on Le Creusot was in October last year when 94 Lancaster bombers concentrated an attack into seven minutes. Great damage was done and although the attack was made in daylight only one bomber -was lost. The attack met with only I light opposition, again revealed the extraordinary degree to which the Germans are stripping the defences of occupied territories, even from places of vital importance to themselves, in order to build up the proli tection of the Reich itself. Early arrivals had no difficulty in picking out landmarks —roads, stretches of

water, and finally,, the tall factory buildings themselves. When the flares went down identification became even easier. The whole target was brilliantly lit by moonlight and flares. • It was known the Germans had been busily repairing large' buildings damaged in previous attacks and it was expected they would make a strenuous effort to defend this vital armaments .centre from further devastation. Onhj light flak greeted the bombers and although conditions were ideal for night fighters hardly any were seen. The crews who bombjed the power station at Montchanin, about five miles from Le Creusot, had J much the same experience. This staI tion was one of the new points in the 1 French grid system. It supplies the I Schneider works with nearly all the «power and its destruction would nave 1 a profound effect on the electrical system throughout South-west France. Yet there were only a lew ' guns to fire l at the bombers when ' they arrived. The rear gunner of a Halifax, an American from Chicago, said: “We arrived right at the beginning and got a fine view. Flares were going down. I could see two long sheds in the works. Two holes suddenly* ap--1 peared in the l roofs, and smoke poured up from the holes. As we turn--1 ed for home, three minutes after the 1 attack started, I saw great clouds of ’ white smoke coming up from the ' works.” The pilot of the Lancaster ’ said: “As we came out of the target ' area, a huge explosion was followed soon afterwards by another.” The ’ crews reported a third that occurred • as the attack came to an end. There

was a flash of flame, and smoke billowed t 0 about three thousand feet. The “Daily Mail’s” aviation writer 1 says the loss of only three bombers from the large force which was employed was no doubt proportionately the Bomber Command’s smallest loss. For months the battle of the Ruhr forced Germany to invest heavily on alternative production centres. Great sums were spent on repairing and expanding the Schneider works alter the battering by Lancasters last Oct°'nie “Daily Express’s” aviation correspondent points out that since the battle of the Ruhr was intensified two months ago the Germans have been switching arms production, reIvino- more on the two main centres outside the. R.A.F.’s “happy valley the Schneider works and the Skoda plant in Czechoslovakia. . Saturday night’s operations included attacks on objectives in the Rhineland and mine-laying. Fighters on intruder operations shot up targets in Northern France and shipping off the coast. Two German aircraft were destroyed. Other aircraft attacked targets in the Ruhr and the Rhineland and laid mines in enemy waters. Poix airfield, Northern Fiance, had its second attack within 24 hours, when Bostons, escorted by Spitfires, attacked it yesterday afternoon. Despite strong enemy fighter opposition our bombers were able to.aim without interference, apart , fo / s o ™ fiak, and saw hits on the airfield buildings and dispersal area. Spitfires, in the course of many duels destroyed one Focke-Wulf and severely damaged another. Then the Spitfires brought all the bombers safely home. typhoon fighters damaged two trawlers and a minesweeper, and in a low-level attack off the Dutch coast damaged an escort vessel and two smaller boats. Four of our fighters are missing. The “Frankfurter Zeitung” says: “Utter poverty exists in the bombed I regions. Thousands have only the ! clothes they are wearing More shops must be opened to which the homeless can go. Above all, more food shops are needed. Evacuees can buy nothing in many of the towns This must be changed. Evacuees have the right to buy more, than others. Holiday resorts are insufficient tor hospitals. More exacuees must be sent to towns and villages. Others must go to occupied zones in the East.” I ~

Ruhr Raid Damage NO INSURANCE. EXCEPT FOR GOODS IN TRANSIT. (Rec. 5.5.) LONDON. June 21. The German War Damage Department has announced that it is unable to accept insurance against war risks of any buildings and other real estate. . “The Times’s” Stockholm correspondent says: An official German order states: It is necessary, because of wide misunderstanding, to emphasise that this insurance is impossible. Only goods in transport can be insured against war damage. “The Times’s” correspondent says: “This is an emphatic new order, which is obviously due to 1 a vast scale of destruction recently, especially m the Ruhr district. The order created consternation among owners whose propertv had been demolished, they will be obliged to bear the whole loss themselves. German Rhineland newspapers dwell on the first clanns o war relief of masses of people driven from the industrial districts who are now roofless. The papers are urging that the people throughout Gerffiany should realise that this is a problem affecting the whole country, and not a local’ problem. The evacuation problem has been complicated by .the fact that war workers bombed out of Rhineland and Ruhr towns must Pp o-ot back to work there again, or removed to similar work elsewhere. “The Times” says: Reports show that a high degree of disorder prevails owing to a breakdown in organised evacuation plans. One German description says that a bombing catastrophe had produced dire distress in extensive districts and that conflicting Government orders enhanced disorders. The authorities urge the people to realise the impossibility of keeping their families-

together “at this /dage of the war. German newspapers are now publishing articles deploring the prevalence of grumblers. People are told that grumbling and half-heartedness will prolong the war.