R.A.F. RAIDS DUSSELDORF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 10 December 1940, Page 6

R.A.F. RAIDS DUSSELDORF

MOONLIGHT ASSISTS BOMBERS ENEMY PORTS ALSO ATTACKED I British Official Wireless) Received I Oth Dec., 10. I 0 a.m. RUGBY, 9th December. An Air Ministry communique states: "R.A.F. bombers last night renewed their attack on in-

dustrial and military targets in the Dusseldorf area and other aircraft bombed the submarine base at Lorient and shipping and harbour installations at Bordeaux and Brest. Other targets were the ports of Flushing, Dunkirk, Gravelines and several enemy aerodromes. Two of our planes are missing.

Describing the Dusseldorf raid the Air Ministry News Service states that over the city there were layers of drifting cloud, but beneath them visibility was excellent. Bridges across the Rhine were clearly distinguished and one crew, although bombing from a height of several thousand feet, was actually able to see flames streaming from the windows of a factory in the area of the chief target. This was again the Press and Walzwerke blast furnaces and steel works which manufacture railway and shipping equipment among other war material. One aircraft, ten minutes after bombing the steel works, dived down upon a supply train near Gledern, north-west of Dusseldorf, and machine-gunned it from a height of 50 feet.

The raid on Dusseldcfrf began shortly after 7 p.m. Bright moonlight helped the navigators and three large fires and many small ones followed the bursting of the first bombs. In quick succession British aircraft then crowded in, dropping heavy bombs accurately on the steel works and pelting the entire area with hundreds of incendiaries. Great banks of smoke rose billowing into the air and this, combined with shifting cloud patches, obscured the scene for some of the late comers. One pilot cruised over the target for 40 minutes before bombing his objective. Pilots generally, however, did not meet with the same trouble and as they returned to their base one after another they reported great destruction. Flames blazed up at one factory enveloping the whole building and remained a ragged glare in the sky long after the aircraft had gone away. Two minutes after one aircraft dis- [ charged its load of incendiaries three violent explosions were observed among I the fires caused. Pilots stated that from 30 to 40 miles away it was plain that many fires had taken a firm hold. HEAVY RAID ON BORDEAUX A heavy attack on Bordeaux last night was carried out by aircraft of the Coastal Command. The attack, states the Air Ministry News Service, was launched soon after dark. Heavy bombs from the first raiders started a great fire among buildings between two dock basins. At Lorient. where as at Brest the raid was the second within 24 hours, sticks of bombs were distributed across the docks and store houses. One bomb blew up with at shower of crimson sparks and a great blue flash was seen after a salvo of bombs hit dry docks. Brest was lit up soon after the raid began by a fire burning in dockside buildings. A roof fell in while the attack was still in progress and pilots could see the flames reflected in the water. Other bombs struck around the port militaire. naval barracks and dry docks.