OVER THE RUHR

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 195, 19 July 1941, Page 7

OVER THE RUHR

R.A.F. NIGHT BOMBERS. MORE RAIDS ON SHIPS. (United Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 10 a.m.) RUGBY, July 18. An Air Ministry communique says that industrial areas at Colog-ne and elsewhere in the Rhineland were attacked last night. j Fires were started and, though the ; weather made it difficult to observe ! the results, many bombs were seen to hit their targets. Planes of tlic Coastal Command attacked shipping at St. Nazaire (Franco). A ship of about 4000 tons was seen to be hit. / During offensive patrols by the Fighter Command attacks were made on enemy aerodromes in occupied territory. One aircraft of tho Coastal Command is missing. The destruction or damaging by the R.A.F. on July .16 of nearly 150,0U0 tons of enemy snipping at Rotterdam was not only by iar the most devastating air attack on shipping in the port, but also an important part in tho carefully worked-out plan of attack on the German transport system. Rail and sea transport in German-occupied territory is regarded as a single unit and the R.A.F., having by tho heavy and repeated bombing of vital railway ccni tres caused increasing dislocation of j the land transport system, has caused I the enemy to seek relief from the strain by resort to coastal shipping, which the R.A.F. then attacks round the coasts and in the harbours. Rotterdam is by far the most important harbour of North-Western Europe and the principal port for traffic to and from the Ruhr, which provides nearly 70 per cent, of Germany’s steel The R.A.F.’s nightly bombing of industry and transport is slowly but steadily destroying the heart of the German industrial power. The R.A.F. offensive last .night included attacks by a number of lighter pilots on enemy-occupied aerodromes. The pilots were sent out in Americanbuilt Havoc aircraft. Two of them—one over Holland and the other over France —had the experience of starting fires they could see long after leaving the target. One reported that light bombs started many fires which became two big fires ten minutes after !

he left the area. A coastal aerodrome in Franco was the target of the other pilot, who reports his bombs started a fire which could bo seen 40 miles out to sea. Night operations of this nature by fighter aircraft were frequently mentioned during the period of heavy raiding of British towns when one object of tho operations was stated to be the interception and destruction of German bombers on their return from raids.

An Ankara Press message states: Diplomats from Germany say the intensity of the recent British raids surpasses anything the Luftwaffe attempted on Britain. Dusseldorf, on which the R.A.F. from American Flying Fortresses have dropped -100011> anil IOUOIb calibre bombs, is now practically a charred ruin. Bremen’s harbour installations have been blasted until they are useless. Hanover has had the heaviest bombing of any military objectives since the outbreak of the war. The Germans arc dredging and dynamiting the Kiel Canal several times! a week to remove the wreckage of I shipping sunk by bombs. Railway communications in Western Germany have been extensively and i seriously damaged, resulting in a I shortage of food and other commodi-! ties in many places. SMASHING ATTACKS. Details of the strong attack by the Coastal Command oi tho Royal Air Force on enemy shipping last night are given by the Air Ministry News Service. A tanker of GOOD tons and a supply ship of 35UU tons were hit and almost certainly sunk. Two more supply ships, each of 2000 tons, were straddled with sticks of bombs and probably damaged, Torpedo-carrying Beaufort aircraft attacked the tanker oil the French coast in the English Channel. Slic had live ships spread round her. The Beauforts found the convoy just as daylight was fading. There was no cloud to cover the lire put up by the escort ships, which was intense, and all the Beauforts came back with holes in them, but no serious damage was done! and there were no casualties. Tho air-! craft launched torpedoes from close range and one was seen to striko the tanker near the foremast. A column of smoke sprang into tho air. The supply ship of 3500 tons was found at tho entrance to a fjord north | of Bergen by a Hudson bomber patrol-j ling the Norwegian coast. The squad- ] ron leader piloting tho aircraft first] saw the ship’s wake and then the ship ] herself making out to sea. lie dived to | a height which just enabled him to! clear the top of the ship’s masts and released a stick of heavy bombs with a: slightly delayed action. “L saw a bomb burst on tho ship,” the rear-gunner later reported. “Immediately there was a violent explosion ] front tho after hold and flames shot | up.” The crew of the Hudson saw a second bomb enter the water so closo to the side of the vessel that it must have done moro severe damage. They think it may have acted like a torpedo and holed the ship below water. "When anti-aircTaft lire died down the Hudson returned to the ship and saw her enveloped in flames and down at the stern. As the aircraft flew away the ship was well on lire and travelling in circles.

A second force of Beau forts attacked two 2000-ton supply ships which -were anchored 150 yards apart at St. I Nazaire. Several sticks of bombs were ! laid across the position from a low | level but fierce opposition prevented our crews observing the exact results. Two bombs of one stick, however, were seen to strike the water directly between the ships. London newspapers are featuring photographs illustrating the efforts of German camouflage experts to mislead Royal Air Force raiders. Two lakes exist in the heart of Hamburg, j The inner one, called the Binnenalster, is camouflaged by rafts representing a block of buildings with roads. The Germans have built a replica of Lombards Bridge, 600 yards northward of the original • structure. 'This faked bridge crosses tho larger lake, the Aussenalster. The plan endeavoured to mislead R.A.F. raiders into thinking part of the Ausseualstcr is the Binnenalster.— Official Wireless.