ALLIED AIR BLITZ

Grey River Argus, 14 August 1944, Page 2

ALLIED AIR BLITZ

TREMENDOUS ON SATURDAY All Over France TAus. & N.Z- Press Assn.l (Rec. 9.30) LONDON, Aug. 13 The Press Association’s aviation correspondent says: Allied air forces made tremendous correlated blows, on Saturday. They constituted the greatest onslaught against the enemy's communications throughout the war. From daybreak to dusk hundreds of Allied bombers and fighter-bombers swarmd over the breadth of France. Belgium and Northern France to the south and east of Paris, smashing enemy equipment many miles from the battle fronts and strafing every type .of vehicle that could' be used bring up men and material to the frontline, besides mangling rail tracks at innumerable points. Ninth Air Force Marauders and Havocs were called in on Saturday, evening to cut off German troops believed to be attempting a withdrawal from a pocket west of Argentan. Waves of planes saturated escape roads to the rear with fragmentation and high-explosive bombs. Typhoons knocked out a bridge across the Orne north of Conde-sur-Noireau.

SHAEF in a communique on Saturday stated:—ln a day of widespread air activity, harbour defences, fuel depots, railway yards, bridges, depots, submarine shelters, and airfields were attacked by many formations of heavy bombers. The small formations bombed the stubbornly resisting harbour defences of Brest I at over twenty points. Fuel depots targets included St. Lorentin, Pacy, Strasbourg, La Pallice, and Bordeaux. Railvzay yards attacked were at Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Belfort, S'aarbrucken, Lens, Douai and Givors. Airfields attacked included Villa Coublayi, Toussus, Lenoble, and Coulommiers. Still other targets were submarine shelters at La Pallice and Bordeaux, locomotive depots at Somain, and an Etaples railbridge which was attacked on Saturday night. Medium bombers operated against a variety of targets including St. Malo I coastal batteries, mortar artillery I positions in the Fala'ise sector, am- ; munition dumps in the Foret de Roul mare, railroads at St. Maximin and i Fismes, and a temporary bridge at ' Oissell. Fighter-bombers operated ■ both in close support of our forces, ' and also on strafing missions in the Evreux area, and from Paris southeastwards to Dijon. Allied aircraft in Italy flew about three thousand offensive sorties. We lost seventeen aircraft. We destroyed seventeen enemy planes in the air. Early .on Sunday morning escorted Lancasters attacked with twelvethousand pound bombs U-boat shelters at Brest. The ■weather was brilliantly clear. The crews reported that bombs fell .in a close cluster round the aiming point.’ A Rome Press correspondent states: Medium and fighter-bombers on Saturday combined to smash enemy coastal and A.A. gun positions pillboxes, and radio stations along, the French Italian Riveras. Excellent results were reported. Concentrating solely on gun positions for the first time since the Cassino battle, Mitchells plastered coastal gun emplacements in the Cannes and Montpelier areas. Fires and explosions were caused in all target areas. Marauders scored many direct hits against coastal guns east of Toulon. Other targets were Adige River Locks near Cavabella in north-east Italy, fuel dumps near Ravenna, on the I east coast, railway lines in the Bologna and Farrara area and the posi- | tions north of Florence, targets in the Imperia area; and locomotives, and motor vehicles in Yugoslavia. Four waves of Marauders, using path-finder technique, .on Sunday attacked the last remaining span over the S'eine west of Paris, the Oissel railway bridge, five miles south of Rouen. The bridge is important for supplying German troops opposing the British sector of the Normandy front. Crews reported hits along approaches and tracks. Detailed assessment .of damage will not be known until further reconnaissance is made. AH the Marauders returned. Fortresses starting from bases in ItM v attacked a German aerodrome ' five miles south-west of Toulouse, and proceeded to bases in England. These bombers were the same Eighth

U.S.A. Air Force aircraft which made a shuttle run from England to Russia on August 8. Hundreds of fighters and fighteibombers of the U.S. Fighter Command strafed and bombed Yards, trains, trucks, and other round targets to prevent supplies and reinforcements reaching the Germans opposing the Allied armies in France, Attacks covered nearly all the German occupied territory except the extreme southern part, except the extreme southern part, the .operations extending from Belgium and the Channel coast to the south and east of Paris. It was the sixth straight day of intensive farreaching attacks by the Eighth U.S. Fighter Command on supplies, ana reinforcements, moving towards the front; Fighters shot up 2,860 freight cars, including 359 fuel-carrying cars, 325 locomotives, and 172 carloads ol ammunition, and destroyed or damaged over four hundred trucks and other military vehicles. Other targets included a score of marshalling yards seven bridges, four tunnels, and three truckload of bicycles. Fighters strafed an ammunition train ol sixty cars. The whole train exploded. ' By early evening, fighters had flown more than a thousand sorties. Six enemy aircraft were, shot down. Thirteen others wer destroyed on the ground. Fifteen Allied fighters are missing. , Escorted bombers continued an olfensive against U-boat bases in Bordeaux and La Pallice, and also attacked one important petrol dump in the Foret Demont, about sixty miles from Le Mans. Coastal Command ’planes resumed a relentless hunt .of enemy shipping along the Bay of Biscay, after dawn. By noon Halifaxes and Mosquitos scored direct hits on a medium-siz-ed merchantman, and left it on fire. They blew up a minesweeper and damaged an armed vessel and three armed trawlers. These ships were attacked in the mouth of the Gironde. Two Allied aircraft are missing. From August 5, to August 8, nineteen U.S. Fortresses, escorted by Mustangs, completed a Britain-Rus-sia-Italy-Britain shuttle bombing operations. Therein thev twice spanned central Europe. The Luftwaffe in this period made only one major attack on the American planes. Fifty F.W. 190’s assailed the a'rmada during the first leg of the shuttle flight. Enemy fighters rose up over Germany” but Mustangs beat them off, and Fortresses sailed on to Russia. Not a single Fortress or Mustang .was lost during a thousand miles of flight, mostly over hostile territory. On Saturday U.S.A. Eighth Air Force fighter-bombers in sweeping attacks aaamst enemv rail facilities shot up 2860 freight cars, including 359 fuel-carrying cars, 325 locomotives, and 172. car loads of ammunition.

Bomber Command planes flew over Germany on Saturday night in great strength. Brunswick . and Russelsheim were the main objectives. Other forces of bombers attacked targets in- northern France.

NAVAL AIR RAIDS IN NORWAY An Admiralty communique says: Carrier-borne aircraft yesterday attacked shipping and shore installations in Norwegian Leads between Alesund and Kristiasund North. Aircraft hangars and a number of large storehouses on airfields at Gossen, were heavily attacked and set on fire. Six Messerschmitts were destroyed on the ground and a seventh damaged. Other targets were successfully attacked in the Lepsey area, including radio stations, shore gun positions and a large oil tank which was set on fire. Three armed vessels were attacked in the same area, and two of them burst into flames. Two naval aircraft are missing. (Rec. 12.25.) LONDON. August 13. Strong forces of Allied heavy bombers on Saturday attacked Military installations in the south of France and in North Italy, while fighter aircraft were active in the same areas. Tactical aircraft carried out attacks over a wide area, striking at military objectives in North Italy, South France, Yugoslavia and the battle area. Two enemy ’planes were destroyed. Twenty-eight of our aircraft are missing. The Mediterranean Air Force flew two thousand sorties.