GREAT AIR STRIKE

Grey River Argus, 17 March 1945, Page 5

GREAT AIR STRIKE

AGAINST GERMANY The Ruhr Isolated ENEMY FRONT STARVED OF SUPPLIES. (Rec. 10.15) LONDON, March 16. A “Daily Mail” correspondent on the West Front stated: With _cold, surgical precision, the whole or the Ruhr is being isolated. Aided air forces are in the midst of a scientific plan designed to make it impossible for Germans to move, work or fight in this great strip of the most populous and most industrialised territory in the world. A fight for the Ruhr has been going on for three years. It is a long-drawn out duel, in which both sides have used incredible ingenuity. Now, at a critical moment, we suddenly have got ahead. The six rail routes into the great industrial front line valley are virtually cut, roads are blocked or smashed, traffic is freezing at a standstill, great cities-, are dying, Germans are being forced-to use smaller routes, bottlenecks are developing on remote country lanes, and the flow of stuff westward is now so small that it is not visible by day. We are threatening the German front with starvation. The Germans are working hard and cleverly, but they have never faced anything quite like this before.

A “Daily Express” _ correspondent enumerated six main commercial routes to the Ruhr, most of which, he said, were„ Mocked on Thursday night, viz.: Cl) The Canal, which the Bomber Command made dry for the second time; (2) the Hanover-Munster route, which Americans have smashed at Munster; (3) the Bielefild viaduct, which the R.A.F. smashed with ten-tonners; (4) a route from Bremen on which the railway has been smashed; (5) a route from the coast to Dortmund on which the Altenbahen viaduct was wrecked; (6) a circuitous roaa-Vmto Essen from the east, which was hit in a raid on Wednesday. United Stares heavy bombers on Thursday dropped six thousand high explosive bombs, and more than 325 thousand incendiaries on the headquarters of the German General Staff at Zossen, 20 miles south of Berlin. The attack was aimed at paralysing the army nerve centre, through destruction of administrative buildings, vital record barracks and other utilities, including communications, and transportation lines. Fart of the headquarters was deep underground. A Stockholm report, said Hitler was at Zossen as late as last Sunday. The United States Eighth Air Force sent out 1350 planes, half of them fighters. Half of them attacked Zossen, and the remainder blasted Oranienburg, 20 miles north of Berlin, with an equal weight of bombs. The Luftwaffe .'did not appear during either attack. The flak was intense at Oranienburg, but was generally meagre at Zossen. vFhere the bombing was visual. Ground • haze and smoke from fires in the target area hamnered some of the bomb-aimers. Sixteen of the bombers and three of the fighters are missing.

Hagen, an industrial communication centre south-east of the Rhur. was attacked. Lancasters made a heavy attack on an oil refinery at Misburg. Berlin was also bombed for the’ 24th successive night last night. Allied air losses on Wednesday so far reported were 14 bombers and 20 fighters, while 27 enemy planes were shot down and 58 destroyed on the ground. On Wednesday night bombers attacked the synthetic oil plant at Lutzkendorf and objectives a Zweibruecken and Homburg, and light bombers attacked Berlin. Twelve of the R.A.F. Bomber Command aircraft are missing from over 1000 engaged in the operations over Germany on Wednesday. A Reuter correspondent at Supreme Headquarters said: Fourteen hundred air sorties were flown in support of the U.S. Seventh Army's attack.

An Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent with thp U.S. First. Army said: In excellent flying .weather on Thursday American Tactical Air Force planes wrought great destruction among heavy concentrations of German traffic moving toward the Remagen bridgehead and among trains north-east of Cologne. They flew .329 sorties before 4 p.m., destroying 331 railcars and damaging 297 railcars, also destroying or damaging 32 armoured vehicles. On Wednesday seven spans of the centre of the .Bielefeld viaduct of 26 arches were completely demolished, and the steel viaduct at Altenkexen, on the Dortmund-Hanover line, has been destroyed. R.A.F. Bomber Command Halifaxes escorted by R.A.F. Spiafires and Mustangs attacked two benzol plants, one near Essen and the other at Castrop-Rauxel in the Ruhr on Thursday. It is stated The Hague and greater part of Holland, are completely isolated as a result of a two days’ allout Air Force assault against Vweapon supply routes to the coast. Fighters cut railways to the coast in 53 places. On Thursday afternoon, carrying R.A.F. new 22,000-lb. bombs, Lancasters attacked Arnsberg railway viaduct. This viaduct was attacked on Wednesday, but then only 12,000-lb. bombs were dropped. Twenty-two thousand pounders were used there for the first time it is believed.

During the first experiment in England with 22,000-lb. bombs officers from observation shelters 2500 yards away from the bombing site saw bombs fall and explode for the first time. Huge clods of soil weighing five to ten tons each sailed many hundreds of feet into the air. A largo clouds of dense black smoke followed. OEicers heard the boom of the explosion and felt the quaking of the earth.. An enormous crated formed, thousands of tons of earth being thrown in all directions. A Reuter correspondent at Allied Air Headquarters in the Mediterranean said: On Thursday an attack against four great oil plants, designed to knock out a quarter of Germany’s synthetic oil production, was made by Mediterranean Allied Air Forces in their longest mission yet. A massive force of Flying Fortresses flew from Italian bases in dayhghto make the strike, which meant a round trip of fourteen hundred miles. They attacked Germany's number one oil target, Ruhland Oil Refine ies, between Berlin and Dresden, with results described as good. Pilots imported smoke over the target using over 20,000 feet. Liberators, poundeo three oil refineries near Vienna. Italy-based bombers in their attack on Wednesday against oil refineries north-west of Budapest to the aajacent. Russian front in Hungary was at the direct invitation of the Russian High Command, made for tne first time in this war. It was a combined Russian-American assault wir.n communication centres beside oirefineries as targets. A spokesmai said: “For the ’first time Russ an. German and American planes found

themselves mixed up in weaving dogfights. The American planes took a most dangerous route across enemy territory in order to prevent a possibility of bombing Russian allies. The German opposition was strong. Escorting fighters shot down 19 enemy planes and damaged others”. Under-Secretary Air Brabner, in a speech in the Commons said: “It is a matter of surprise to many of us that the Germans have taken" so much bombing without the obvious effect we might have expected. Since 6th March the Allies have dropped 46,000 tons of bombs on Germany. Of this one Bomber Command dropped slightly over half.” Referring to a question os to why von ßundstedt has been able to get back some of his troops across the Rhine, he said: “No measure of air superiority could prevent his army., or parts of it moving at night. Air superiority, however, has meant that the Allied armies could maintain a bridge across the Rhine and the Germans could not smash it. The Bomber Command’s strategic policy is immensely affecting the enemy’s war production. A panzer division used in the Ardennes offensive were under fiftq per cent, of their strength. They were short of oil. An inspection of Cologne hUs shown every Single factory of any significance io be destroyed or sev erely damaged. per cent, of the built up area of Cologne and 45 per_cent of the partly’nuilt up area has been destroyed-. Heavy bomber formations flying from Italy in support of Russian armies in Hungary on Wednesday came upon German fighters, which were attacking Russian troops and joined in the battle. American airmen claimed that 17 German fighters were shot down and two more destroyed. At otney places American Mustangs escorting bombers joined in the battle when they found a formation of Russian light bombers being attacked. Tw.o German planes were destroyed in the fight. A Rome correspondent, giving this news, says it is believed to be the first time that American and Russian bombers attacked simultaneously targets in the same area. United States bombers hit tP.rceis with in miles of the Russian lines.