MONDAY’S ATTACKS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 256, 26 September 1940, Page 7

MONDAY’S ATTACKS.

TWENTY FIRES COUNTED

(British Official AA’ireless.) RUGBY, Sept. 24

Broadcasting to-night, a 21-year-old bomber pilot of the Royal Air Force described his experiences in last night’s raids in and round Berlin. He blew up part of a gasworks in a northeast district of the city. “This was my twenty-fifth raid over Germany, and it was about the most successful,” he said. “Our squadron had been over Berlin before, but 1 hadn’t. They had sent me to Hamm instead, and my crew were a hit fed up about that. AVe were told at about 5 o’clock yesterday that the Berlin show was on, and we knew it was going to be on a pretty large scale. “Our particular target was a large gasworks to the north-east of Berlin, about four or five miles from the centre of the city. There is a railway running right alongside it, a largo open space to the east and a lake about a mile to the north-east of it, and those were our three landmarks. “As we neared Berlin the cloud beneath us closed up, but oyer the city itself it was quite clear; in fact, the conditions were pretty; well ideal for night bombing. The trip out was entirely without incident, and we were absolutely on our course because through gaps in the cloud we were able to ‘pin-point’ ourselves on a number of places along the route. There was some gunfire round towns to the south, of course, but nobody bothered US “Tlie first sign of any real activity came as we approached Berlin. AVe had got within 20 miles of it_ when suddenly five flares appeared in the sky. They were being dropped by other bombers that had got there before ns, and no sooner had that happened than up <vent a barrage. As we got nearer the number of flares increased, and I counted 10, but as we were coming away after the bombing there were well over 20. ~ ~ , “AVe could judge roughly the shape of the city from the gunfire round the outskirts even before we got over Berlin, and the flares made it light enough to pick out important .featuies. AA’e could see some of the others bombing and to the north-east there was a small chain of fires burning. I said to my navigator, ‘AA 7 e will make for those and see what is to be seen there.

GREAT EXPLOSION.

“As we approached we could see that these fires were just' a little south ol our actual target; that was a bit of luck for us, as it meant we were able to make our tracks in an actual Turnup on the target. One usually has to make a dummy run first, but on this occasion we were able to bomb the first time with only a few minor corrections. “At first we thought we had nussod. because we saw only normal bombing bursts, but about 10 seconds later there was a violent explosion in the centre of the stick. I think the wireless operator noticed it first; lie was looking out through a hatch and he called out, ‘lt’s a beauty. It’s blown everything up!’ He said later that lie saw a flash, and then a great pillar of fire seemed to come up in the air.. .“All this time we had been getting a certain amount of fire from ‘heavy guns on the ground, but nothing to worry us much, though away through the cloud we saw another of our bomb ers caught in the searchlights come under very heavy fire. As we left we could see other people bombing our fires. There were practically continuous salvoes of bombs falling in various parts of the city. “It was the biggest show I have ever seen. The bomb-aimer said he

counted at least 20 fires burning, and you could still see them 35 miles away, after which we ran into the cloud again and our view was obscured. AVe were the second back to the base on our return, but all the others returned within an hour or so and everyone reported that he had dropped his bombs.” . According to trustworthy information, the large aluminium works at Lauta (about 100 miles south-east of Berlin), which were attacked by the R.A.F. on Sunday night, account for just under 30 per cent, of Germany’s total output of this material; which is vital for the construction of aircraft. Bauxite, the raw material ,of aluminium, is in fact one of the few minerals of which Germany has ample' supplies, but the importance of this target derives from the fact that the Germans are attempting to achieve a largo increase in their output of aluminium with a view to using it as a substitute for other' metals of which, because of the blockade, they are seriously short, notably copper. Tlie German supply of bauxite may be ample, but the factory resources available for converting it into aluminium are not. The destruction wrought at Lauta is, therefore, complementary to the exclusion IrOin Germany by the. blockade of metals such as copper.