Describe Ruhr As Sea Of Flame

Northern Advocate, 30 June 1943, Page 3

Describe Ruhr As Sea Of Flame

(8.0. W., 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, June 29. A strong force of R.A.F. bombers last night attacked Cologne. Hamburg was also raided and mines were laid in enemy waters. Twenty-five bombers

are missing from all operations. Pilots’ reports indicate that the Cologne raid was most successful. Huge fires and one particularly violent explosion turned the whole sky scarlet. ■ Many enemy aircraft were destroyed in numerous dog-fights. Details of the Hamburg attack have

not yet been received. Photographs reveal that Fortresses’ attack on St. Nazaire two nights ago was very successful. In a high altitude i precision bombing attack, hundreds of tons of bombs rained down on three I decks, all of which were greatly

! damaged. “We could not miss the tar- ! get and we did not,” said one pilot. I German sources describe last night’s . attack against Cologne as a “terror | raid.” Berlin radio quoted the Ger■man High Command’s report that during the latest British “terror attack” j against Cologne high explosives, also ; tens of thousands of incendiaries were, dropped entirely at random over the ; town. Cultural monuments destroyed i include the Town Hall, State House ; and Guerzenich Hall, dating to medi-j Ueval times. Cologne Cathedral was

(seriously damaged. Heavy bombs I crashed through the dome and exi ploded in the. interior, causing heavy I destruction. The left aisle is des- | troyed so is the marvellous organ; ! and baptistry and parts of the cupI ola have collapsed. Cologne Suffers 1 The radio added: “The Gothic tow|ers of the cathedral today are rising

j to the sky as a writing Gn the wall for ( the criminals responsible for all this 1 terror.” | A report received in Stockholm | says the railway station at Cologne, | situated near the cathedral, is believed :to have been hit. It was Cologne’s 1117th raid. Neutral observers join the Germans

iin emphasising the devastation the; j Royal Air Force has caused in the j Ruhr. The Swedish newspaper “Go-; i tegorgposten” described the Ruhr as aj | sea of flame and said Germany’s ar- j 'lsenal has been pulverised. All life: j has been hammered out of it. “Indescribable Horror” : j.. Berlin radio speaks of scenes of in- ! describable horror and says: “When

! a city is in flames the pavements beI come so hot that the asphalt melts and ! people are burned to death trying to 1 extricate themselves. Thousands have (died from the most painful wounds (caused by liquid phosphorous.”

I A radio commentator said: “Germany •never expected Allied mass raids, j These concentarted attacks against the . Ruhr came as o complete surprise to , Germany.” ! An eyewitnes, broadcasting from an unnamed western German town after (last night’s raids, said: “Following the j night attack, civil defence organisa-

J Tons were joined by soldiers from all i ! units stationed there. They are still fighting the raging fires. I see a picture ? j of hoircr and destruction Whole dist tricts are nothing but smouldering J ruins.”

li People Exhausted, Broken T Berlin radio said when the attack on j Cologne ended the population left the ?' shelters and saw whole districts, par-

ticularly houses, turned to rubble and; J ] debris. “Only those who have ex-] 'jperienced such a night of terror know! 3 'now much there is to do and how much L! help is needed.” 1 A new appeal pollowed to the wholp L German people for help for those who ' cuff red in the Cologne raid.

Another commentator said: “We see an exhausted and broken down people who have aged years. Last night entire i streets were torn up and house walls ’(were crushed and gaping, showing ’I wrecked interiors. There were entire j blocks of such houses with people still j under heaps of debris. Entire districts s }were turned into smoking l'uins. Peoj pie are sitting in the streets, some on J suitcases, staring at the few belong-

j'ings they arc able to salvage.” , The Germans are mobilising labour. • including 1.C0u.000 prisoners of war, to rebuild the Ruhr industries in Austria, >| according to reports from Ankara. Women in Danger Area

"i Despite Goebbols’ protests against termor raids against defenceless women, the HGermans threaten severe punishment for •(women leaving Ruhr factories. The OberL hausen “National Zeitung” warns that ' j (fie policy of total effort for German ’iwomen must not be abandoned. It em--11 phasises that imprisonment, not fines, (will be the punishment for women who (move from bombed towns. ’I Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent says •(report:- from Germany indicate the great ■ (raid against Cologne blasted all German r I hopes of the last few days that new dc-

! Tensive measures in Western Germany would slow up the Allied air offensive. Fortresses Over France i A large force of American heavy bombjars attacked two important tax-gets in ocleupied France early last evening. One

i large formation of Flying Fortresses bomb- ! .-.cl U-boat installations at St. Nazarne, i ,vhile another sti'ong force attacked a I fighter aii-field at Beaumont le Roger, starting large fires. Bombing results on (both targets were good. Intense anti-air- ! craft fire, also some fighter opposition. ! .vas encountered by one formation. Forti resses destroyed a number of enemy fight-

•; -is. R.A.F. Spitfires and American Thun- "! derbolts carried out supporting operations. - j Six bombers ai-e missing, d It is officially stated that two Junkers (SS and four Hensehel 126 were destroyed "jin 10 minutes a few miles from Paris by ['two of our fighters on offensive patrol

3 this morning. In Low Countries

| The Air Ministry communique sates: -I "Yesterday Typhoon bombers attacked irailway and ground targets in Belgium.

]| Yesterday evening other Typhoons, with j fighter escort, attacked the airfield at ’lMorlalx. One of our aircraft is missing.” [ The communique states that several jj enemy vessels were damaged by A Typhoons, which sank two oft' the Dutch ’jeoast,