REASON FOR TRIP TO AFRICA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 26 June 1943, Page 5

REASON FOR TRIP TO AFRICA

MUCH ENEMY FLAK MISSED Rugby, June 24. Lancasters which carried out the shuttle attack on Friedrichshafen and Spezia, left England before sunset on Sunday evening. From the- coast of France right through to the Rhine they passed through most violent electrical storms. One pilot said the electricity made the hair on his hands stand on end and when he touched the throttle he got a series of mild but continuous shocks. There were circles of light on the rough propeller tip. Beyond the Rhine the weather cleared and as the crews came over Lake Constance they saw the whole shape of the lake very clearly in the light of an almost full moon. At first only one or two searchlights probed the sky around Friedrichshafen, but when the first flares went down guns opened up and many more searchlights went on. The report of the squadron leader says: “Though the target was so small and so far inside Germany, there was no doubt that the Lancasters had found it and bombed it. The attack was very well concentrated and fires started at once. We could see fires glowing in the sky as we left, until they were hidden behind the Alps.” SHORT CUT THROUGH ALPS With only three engines running, this squadron leader decided to try and find a way between the mountain peaks of the Alps instead of climbing over them. He came to a dead end—a black wall of rock at the end of a mountain valley and he had to make a right turn and go back the way he had come. At the second attempt he found a way through. The reception of the pilots in North Africa was summed up by a pilot officer: “They practically gave us the freedom of the city. It was marvellous to have all the gifts of lemons, oranges, eggs, tomatoes and plums. We wanted to forego the return journey and the attack on the big Italian naval base of Spezia.” The Lancasters again took off before dusk. There was no moon but the sky was perfectly clear and they easily found the target. There was not much opposition at Spezia, but over Genoa a considerable barrage was going up. By flying to North Africa, the Lancaster force had been able to strike much further into Axis territory than it has normally been possible at midsummer. With the night so short, the journey to Friedrichshafen—more than 500 miles from London—and back to the base, would have meant the bombers would have had to fly through both fighter and gun defended areas in daylight. It was 750 miles on from Friedrichshafen to the nearest point on the North African coast, even if the bombers had flown in a perfectly straight line, but most of the way would either be over the sea or over country that would certainly not be so heavily defended as Germany or northern France. Spezia is about 700 miles from London. ELEMENT OF SURPRISE The trip of 2600 miles dramatically opens a new technique in the air war against the Axis. London observers believe that that double feat may be the opening of a two-way assault on targets in Axis and enemy-occupied countries by planes flying from Britain and North Africa. The “Daily Telegraph,” commenting on the R.AF/s shuttle attack on Friedrichshafen and Spezia, says: “One of the tactical aims was to confuse the enemy. By continuing flying south after the attack on Friedrichshafen, the bombers avoided strong fighter and ground defences in western Europe, which would have been on their toes for the returning planes. Northern Italy’s defences are notoriously weak and Italian night fighter strength is negligible. Thus, after bombing, the Lancasters had a more or less armchair flight to North Africa, with smaller risk of losses. Italian defences would not have expected the bombers to come their way after unloading bombs on Friedrichshafen and the element of surprise must have been equally effective on the return flight. “German defences ‘face’ Britain and radio location detection systems are presumably organised to pick up raiders coming in from the west or north from British bases, but bombers flying in a general northerly direction from Spezia come in behind these defences without having to go out from Britain, thus raising the alarm.”

To-day’s Italian communique says Allied planes raided Spezia, Porto Empedocle and Catania. Great damage was caused at Catania and numerous buildings were destroyed.—P.A. and 8.0. W.