R.A.F. Attacks Heart of Berlin

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 229, 27 September 1940, Page 7

R.A.F. Attacks Heart of Berlin

Second Successive Night Attack GREAT FIRES IN TARGET AREA (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Sept. 25. A number of military objectives in tho heart of Berlin were singled out and attacked on Tuesday night when R.A.F. heavy bombers, for tho second night in succession, carried the war into the German capital in a raid lasting two and a-half hours. The raid began shortly after 10.30, says an Air Ministry bulletin, when the first attacker, evading an intense barrage from tho city’s ground defences, located and bombed the great Siemens and Halso factories, which produce a large proportion of the electrical equipment used by the German armed forces.

Great lires were seen to break out in the target area after the bombing. Berlin’s electric-power transformer and switching station at Uriederichsuelde, which supplies most of the city’s industrial current, was attacked at 1 a.m. to-day. Sticks of high-explosive bombs were seen to burst across tho plant. A blast furnace in the south-east suburbs was struck, causing large fires. Two sticks of bombs were dropped across a canal bridge two miles southwest of Berlin's main airport, Tempolhof.

A message from Berlin says that the raid sent the people of Berlin to their shelters for 2 hours 50 minutes. Highexplosive and incendiary bombs were dropped, and there were civilian casualties. Tho raiders, however, were fewer than on Monday night. It ia officially stated in Berlin that a number of British planes again attempted to attack Berlin on Tuesday night but that strong anti-aircraft fire prevented the attackers from aiming their bombs, most of which fell in open country. Several dwellings were hit in various suburbs, causing casualties among the population. Incendiary bombs fell on a hospital, but energetic safety measures prevented damage. Further details of the extent of the damage cannot yet bo given, it is stated. The Berlin radio stated to-day: “The British again attempted on Tuesday night organised murder of Berlin's civil population. Single planes reached tho inner area, bombing the densely-inhabit-ed working-class districts and hospitals marked with the Red Cross. The murderous British pilots were carrying out Churchill’s orders not to hit military objectives. This infamy the Luftwaffe is answering with nil the means at its disposal.''