DOUBLE BLOW

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 26 June 1943, Page 2

DOUBLE BLOW

TARGETS IN GERMANY ALLIED AIR OFFENSIVE STRONG OPPOSITION MET Rugby, June 25. The R.A.F. and the American Eighth Air Force delivered another double blow against Germany. The R.A.F. last night made its second heavy attack on Wuppertal, concentrating this time on Elberfeld, which received a weight of bombs nearly as heavy as on Barmen, when over 1000 acres were devastated. The Germans have pushed their outer ring of defences to the coast and the attack was pressed home in the face of strong opposition. Thirtythree of our bombers, including 8 Canadian aircraft, are missing. Not many hours after the R.A.F. Wuppertal raid a large force of unescorted Flying Fortresses attacked in daylight targets in north-west Germany. Adverse weather was encountered and observation of targets was difficult. There was also strong fighter opposition and many enemy aircraft were destroyed by bombers. Eighteen of ours are missing. BATTLES IN THE CLOUDS American Eighth Air Force bombers fought a battle in the clouds over north-west Germany to-day when a large formation of Flying Fortresses bound for vital targets in the enemy homeland encountered a solid wall of clouds as it reached the German coast. Ploughing through a foglike bank the bombers broke through into stretches of bright sunlight, but the ground was totally obscured. Out of the clouds came swarms of fighters to drive upon some of the groups. Countless individual battles raged as the big bombers slipped into and through the clouds and back into the bright sunlight, always urging on towards the target. New relays of enemy fighters joined the melee and the battle became fiercer. A large number was known to have been destroyed, but it is doubtful if the exact number can be determined as visibility was too poor to permit observation of results of scores of encounters. When the formation reached the spot where the instruments told them they should find their objectives the clouds’ bank still obscured the ground in most places. Some of the heavies found rifts and dived through them searching for the target. In no instance was it possible to observe bombing results, states the headquarters of the European theatre of the United States Army. The battle continued as the formation turned home and encounters were many on the return journey.