STREWN WITH MINES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 121, 20 April 1944, Page 2

STREWN WITH MINES

LONG STRETCH OF DANUBE. (Rec. 11 a.m.) RUGBY, April 19. A long stretch of the Danube, extending for several hundred miles, was strewn with mines as the result of recent operations by RiA.F, Liberators and Wellingtons writes a correspondent in Italy. The operations were spread over several nights and were in part co-ordinated with the day and night bombing of German communications in the Balkans aimed at disrupting, enemy supplies to the Russian front.

The Liberators, besides the mining, strafed barges and tugs, and it is believed that 12 to 15 vessels were destroyed or seriously damaged. Owing to the flooded nature of the Danube one difficulty was finding the exact course of the stream. One pilot said: "Early last Thursday morning we hit an oil tanker, which blew up with such force that the plane rocketed 150 feet into tho air. The river was covered with blazing oil and turned into a vast sheet of flame which enveloped a large number of o.tlor barges, of which six exploded. Others were destroyed by fire." The pilot explained that one of the greatest difficulties was finding a location _ for the dropping of mines. Each crew was briefed to cover only one particular stretch of the river. The whole operation was conducted with great thoroughness and tbere was no haphazard strewing of mines.—Official "Wireless.

Another report states that 30 vessels have been sunk or damaged by mines in the Danube. The Hungarian and Rumanian shipping companies have refused to risk more of their ships, which were mainly in carrying oil to the Russian front. The hold-up of traffic on the Danube will, therefore, be very serious for the Germans.