RHINE TARGETS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 25 June 1943, Page 2

RHINE TARGETS

INDUSTRIAL HEART OF GERMANY VULNERABLE AREA The River Rhine, although not a match in length for the Danube or the Volga, is nevertheless the most important stream in the Europe of to-day, says a writer in the Melbourne "Age.” The generally accepted division of the river into its upper, middle, and lower reaches names the cities of Mainz and Cologne as the points at which the changes of character take place. From the point of view of war-time importance, however, only one of these sections is of special interest; that is the Lower Rnine. The Rhineland above Cologne, despite the number of towns dotted along its banks, is not a firstclass industrial target, and has been comparatively immune from large-scale bombing attacks. After leaving Bonn, 20 miles above Cologne, the green hills which accompany the romantic middle course of the river retreat on both sides; from here onwards the Rhine winds its way through flat country. That stretch of the river lying between Cologne and the Dutch frontier, together with the banks of its confluent, the Ruhr, mark the extent of what might be described as the industrial heart of Germany. Here are the largest coal mines on the Continent of Europe, as well as extensive iron ore deposits; this is one of the main centres of the chemical and explosives industries, and here is the greatest concentration of munitions plants, with Krupp’s, of Essen, in its centre. The density of the population is close to 900 per square mile. It is understandable, then, why the Royal Air Force has paid such constant attention to this small area. The extent of the damage in places like Cologne, Essen and Duisburg can be appreciated through the admissions ot the Germans themselves; but the work of destruction from the air will go on until Germany’s heart is unable to supply the blood-stream feeding the far-flung tentacles of Nazi conquest. CITY OF COLOGNE The largest centre of the Rhineland is Cologne; after Eerlin and Hamburg, Germany’s third city. Before the war Cologne had a population exceeding 700,000; since the commencement of large-scale bombing raids a considerable proportion of the inhabitants is admitted to have left. Cologne enjoys a remarkably advantageous situation; it is the head of the Rhine navigation for sea-going vessels, as well as the principal junction of the rail system connecting Berlin and Northern Germany with Belgium and France. The proximity of the great iron and coal fields has brought to Cologne the best tradesmen and the most enterprising merchants through the centuries. The city became one of the most powerful on the Continent in. the Middle Ages, and was a member of the Hanseatic League. Later, when technical development made the building of large-scale manufacturing industries a possibility, Cologne was chosen for its natural advantages as the site of the first engineering, coach building, textile and other factories. Apart from its famous Gothic cathedral and a few other interesting mediaeval buildings Cologne is a rather drab industrial town. Even the Rhine loses the romance which characterises its course from Bonn and Kozlenz upwards; the docks of Cologne are the same as docks anywhere in the world, covered by merchandise and mountains of coal. From here onwards the banks of the river are occupied by towns, industrial suburbs and villages almost without interruption. The next large city below Cologne, and possessing a river port almost as busy, is Dusseldorf, another favourite target of the R.A.F. This town, now boasting of some 400,000 inhabitants, was an important munitions centre in the last war, and as such was the scene of one of the first British bombings of the last war. Within a few miles of Dusseldorf are several other centres all of which occupy important places in the German war machine, and, presumably, on the Bomber Command priority list. Just opposite, on the left bang of the Rhine, is the screw and nailmaking town of Neuss. Toward the north-east lies Crefeld, the principal velvet and silk manufacturing community in Germany, and the seat of the oldest technical weaving school in the world. Twenty miles to the east of the Rhine is the unique double city of Wuppertal; it consists of the townships of Eberfeld and Barmen, which only a few years ago were separate communities, but their development has been so rapid that they were finally merged into one under a new name. Finally, completing the circle around Dusseldorf, is “Germany’s Sheffield,” Solingen, the home of the cutlery and sword industry. THE CROWDED RUHR Where the River Ruhr flows info the Rhine is situated Duisburg, with its suburb Ruhrort, the largest inland port in the world. Miles upon miles of docks line the waterfront, ships leave laden with the products of the Ruhr; extensive ship yards turn out river and ocean craft. The harbour installations were enlarged and modernised shortly before the war; but now Duisburg is one of the most persistently bombed targets in the whole of western Germany, and the destruction wrought in the port must have seriously reduced its capacity. Only about ten miles separate Duisburg from Essen; yet so great is the pressure of population that between them are two more large industrial cities, each with over 100,00 inhabitants, bringing the total number of the population of the Essen district to well over 1,000,000. Essen is the very heart of the German iron, steel and munitions industry, as well as the centre of the Ruhr Valley. Here are the Krupp armament works, which supplied the greater part of Germany’s munitions requirements in the last war, and were several times bombed by Allied airmen in 1916-18. After the war Krupp’s was converted to the manufacture of agricultural and industrial machinery and of structural steel, but with the coming of Nazism munitions output again became uppermost. Essen is probably the oldest town in the Ruhr Basin; it was founded approximately a thousand years ago as a Benedictine nunnery. The abbess of the nunnery had complete jurisdiction over the peasants and burghers who settled within the limits of the city, and it was nc' until 1803 that the authority of the nunnery was relinquished and the area incorporated in Prussia. Toward the middle of the last century, with the rapid expansion of the Krupp works as pioneers of the steel industry, the city grew with them. To-day, after the havoc wrought by the R.A.F. during its recent concentrated raids, there is probably not one building undamaged in or around Krupp’s. As Essen lives for and by that concern, the effect of the destruction on the town and its inhabitants can be visualised. SPECIALISED CENTRES Further eastward along the Ruhr Valley and the valleys of the smaller rivers hastening toward it are found other, mostly specialised, centres of the iron and steel industry. The two largest and oldest cities of the district are Bochum and Dortmund, the latter connected with the Rhine by a canal. South of Dortmund is a cluster of smaller centres with Hagen ! as its focal point, specialising in the ! production of brass, bronze, tin, needles, I

wire and scores of other articles of the metal trade. From Duisburg onwards the Rhine loses the interest and the attraction attaching to it from its sources. Its banks are flat, and the river gradually assumes a north-westerly course before it turns due west on entering Holland. Immediately after passing the frontier the Rhine divides into two arms—the left arm, known as the Waal, falls into the North Sea after taking up the waters of the Maas, and mingles them in its estuary with those of the Schelde. The right arms splits into two. One of these lesser arms flows north into the Zuider Zee, while the other, connected through channels with the Waal, flows past the vast docks of Rotterdam and empties itself under the name of Maas into the North Sea at the Hook of Holland. One comparatively narrow arm of the latter, however, is known to the last as the Rhine, and thus the great river ends its life. Until this war is over the Lower Rhineland and the Ruhr will remain in the eyes of the United Nations the heart of the enemy. That small area of less than 2000 square miles north of Cologne is behind his striking power; but whatever other disadvantages the geography of Continental Europe might offer, it is certainly extremely fortunate that Germany’s heavy industry should be concentrated in its most vulnerable corner. Already the enemy’s leaders are forcefully reminded of that vulnerability, and, as time goes on, it will be brought home to them with increasing emphasis.