ALLIED AIR RAIDS

Grey River Argus, 21 October 1943, Page 3

ALLIED AIR RAIDS

GERMANY AND DUTCH COAST. LONDON. Oct. 19. A strong force of Lancasters attacked Hanover last night. It was cloudy on the route and the enemy had to fall back on flak for the main defence of the target. A heavy barrage was put up and a great number of searchlights were used, but these were hampered by cloud. Towards the end of the attack a few fighters arrived. One Lancaster had brief encounters with three fighters in turn but drove them all off. Two bombers reached home damaged by shellfire, one having holes in the fuselage, another hole in the wing, and the rear turret out of action. The light from the large fires was reflected on the clouds when the bombers were 50 miles on the way home.

Beaulighters of the Coastal Command, escorted by Spitfires of the Fignter Command to-day attacked enemy shipping off the Dutch coast, including a German merchant vessel, the Strasburg, which had been aground some weeks and was in tow. The- enemy wireless has alleged that the Strasburg is a coastal ship, but this is not true. When aircraft approached the Strasburg she fired pom-poms from amidships and 40 millimetre cannon from the stern and one British aircraft was shot down. Several hits were made on the Strcsbprg and three of the escort vessels were damaged. A Fighting French Spitfire pilot saw strikes on funnel and bridge of a thousand-ton coaster off Ostend, and Typhoon bombers and Typhoons left an eight-thousand ton naval auxiliary vessel smoking .and beached in the mouth of the Schelde. In Northern France, at least six goods trains were damaged to-day. Whirlwind bombers put three locomotives and a goods train out of action, and pilots brought the trainbusting score of their sector for the last 24 hours up to sixteen without loss. In all these operations, few enemy fighters were seen but several .were damaged. All our planes returned. It is stated that four enemy aircraft were destroyed in yesterday’s offensive operations by the Fighter Command. U.S. AIR CRUISERS LONDON. October 17. Heavily-armed multi-engined air cruisers have been escorting United States bombers in their daylight raids on Germany. A Stockholm report quotes German military observers as saying that these planes carry no bombs but are each .armed with 30 machine-guns and several cannon. These armoured cruisers fly ahead of and alongside the Fortresses to “plough their way through the German fighter planes.” A study of the photographs after the raid on Schweinfurt ball and rol-ler-bearing plant revealed even more extensive damage than at first estimated, said Brigadier General Anderson, commanding the Eighth U.S.A.A.F. The entire works .are now inactive. The Germans may eventually restore twenty-five per cent, productive capacity. A message from Berne'reports that the Germans, as the result of the destruction of Schweinfurt ball-bear-ing works, have placed large orders with the big Schmidtrost ball-bear-ing firm in Zurich. U.S. INCENDIARY BULLET (Rec. 10.40) NEW YORK, Oct. 18. The Remington factory is making a new fifty calibre incendiary bullet, which explodes self-sealing petrol tanks of aircraft, pierces the thickest armour-plate of enemy planes, and spreads a sheet of fire on contact. General Arnold described the bullet, which fighter planes are already using, as an outstanding small arms development for use against, p.anes. NEW GERMAN FIGHTERS LONDON, October. 17. Swedish newspapers report that the Germans are using a new type of heavily armoured fighter plane, which carries ammunition of terrific explosive power. German air observers state that these new fighters took heavy toll of the Fortresses which attacked Schweinfurt on Thursday. Following claims of the use of new weapons, the Berlin I'adio yesterday warned its listeners not to expect ‘The magic gadget to defeat the Allied bombers.” german fog device LONDON, Oct. 17. A German military spokesman claimed that the Germans are using I a new “fog device,” which spreads I a milk-like substance in the air, blinding pilots and causing their bombers to collide. According to the Madrid newspaper “Infiormacione’s” Berlin cor-

respondent, the artificial fog converts daylight attacks into night attack" He adds that the Fortresses on the Schweinfurt raid emerged from these clouds without formation and were at the mercy of German fighters. Many Fortresses collided with each other. ■