ALLIED AIR OFFENSIVE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 30 June 1943, Page 5

ALLIED AIR OFFENSIVE

Terrific Attack on Cologne

Hamburg and Leghorn also Visited

v ßec. 11.35 a.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. There were huge fires and one particularly violent explosion turned the whole sky scarlet. Many enemy aircraft were destroyed in numerous dogfights. Details of the Hamburg attack have not yet been received.

German sources describe last night’s attack against Cologne as a terror raid. Berlin radio quoted the German High Command’s report that during the latest British terror attack against Cologne, high explosives and also tens of thousands of incendiaries were dropped entirely at random over the town. Cultural monuments destroyed include the Town Hall, the State House and Guerzenich Hall, dating back to mediaeval times. Cologne cathedral was seriously damaged. Heavy bombs crashed through the dome and exploded in the interior, causing heavy destruction. The left aisle is destroyed and so is the marvellous organ. The radio added: “The Gothic towers of the cathedral are to-day rising to the sky as the writing on the wall for the criminals responsible for all this terRUHR A SEA OF FLAME 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 117th raid. Neutral observers join the Germans in emphasising the devastation the R.A.F. has caused the Ruhr. The Swedish newspaper “Goteborgs Posten” described the Ruhr as a sea of flame and said Germany's arsenal had been pulverised and the life had been hammered out of it. SCENES OF HORROR Berlin radio speaks of scenes of indescribable horror and says when the city was in flames, the pavements became so hot that the asphalt melted and people were burned to death trying to extricate themselves. Thousands have died from the most painful wounds caused by liquid phosphorus. A radio commentator said: “Germany never expected Allied mass raids. These concentrated attacks against the Ruhr came as a complete surprise to Germany.” An eye-witness, broadcasting from an unnamed western German town after last night’s raids, said: “Following the night attack, civil defence organisations, joined by soldiers from all units stationed there, are still fighting raging fires. I see a picture of horror and destruction. Whole districts are nothing but smouldering ruins.” POPULATION STAGGERED Berlin radio said when the attack on Cologne ended the population left their shelte and saw whole districts, particularly houses, turned to rubble and debris. “Only those who have experienced such a night of terror know how much there is to do and how much help is needed.” A new appeal followed, to the whole German people, for help for those who suffered in the Cologne raid. Another commentator said: “We see exhausted broken-down people, who aged years last night. Entire streets were torn up. House walls are crushed and gaping, showing wrecked interiors. There are entire blocks of such houses, with people still buried under heaps of debris. Entire districts are turned to smoking ruins. People are sitting in the streets, some on suitcases, staring at the ‘iw belongings they are able to salvage.—B.O.W.

TWO IMPORTANT TARGETS

HEAVY U.S. BOMBERS OVER FRANCE SEVERAL FIGHTERS DESTROYED London, June 29. A large force of American heavy bombers attacked two important targets in occupied France early last evening. One large formation of Flying Fortresses bombed U-boat installations at St. Nazaire, while another strong force attacked a fighter airfield at Beau, mont le Roger, starting large fires. Bombing results on both targets were good. Intense anti-aircraft fire and also some fighter opposition were encountered by one formation. Fortresses destroyed a number of enemy fighters. R.A.F. Spitfires and American Thunderbolts carried out supporting operations. Six bombers are missing. DAMAGE AT ST. NAZAIRE Photographs Teveal that the Fortresses’ attack on St. Nazaire two nights ago was very successful. In a high altitude precision bombing attack, hundreds of tons of bombs rained down on three docks, all of which were greatly damaged. “We could not miss the target and we did not,” said one pilot.— P.A. It is officially stated that two JUBB’s and four Henschel 126’s were destroyed in ten minutes a few miles from Paris by two of our fighters on offensive patrol this morning.

ANOTHER KILL

NAZI FIGHTER TO N.Z. PILOT (Rec. 12.10 p.m.) London, June 29. Within a week of returning to operations, Squadron Leader W. V. C. Compton (Auckland) has shot down another German, bringing his total up to 12£. He was leading a wing during a sweep over the St. Omer .area, when he engaged a formation of enemy fighters. Squadron Leader Compton fired on a MEIO9 at a range of 200 yards and saw cannonshell and machine-gun bullets set fire to a wing of the plane, which went into a %pin and crashed. Squalron Leader Compton with Wing Commander Deere and Squadron Leader Gray are among the few ace New Zealand pilots at present operating. Others—Wing Commanders Jameson. Wells and I. S. Smith and Squadron Leader R. J. C. Grant, are all resting. Compton has risen to prominence by hard unspectacular slogging. His only interest in life is flying.—B.O.W.

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

R.X.Z.A.F. OFFICER RETURNS TO BRITAIN BOMBING RAVAGES CLEANED UP London, June 29. A New Zealand squadron leader, who left Britain for two years after winning the D.F.C. in the Battle of Britain, was greatly impressed on his return by the people’s cheerful confidence in winning the war and also the improved food position. “It is interesting to find everywhere cheerfulness and determination to win the war,” he said. “I imagined the food position would be worse than it is, but I find it better than it was, although naturally it does not come up to New Zealand’s standard. “I was often asked in New Zealand about the blitz, and it is interesting to find how its ravages have been cleaned up so that in London, except for the city itself where it is impossible to hide the devastation, it is often diffi-

cult to find traces of the bombing. This is not so in cities like Bristol, Plymouth and Portsmouth, where the damage compares with that in the city of London, and being smaller places it is more obvious. —P.A. Special Correspondent.

HUN CONVOY ATTACKED

ATTEMPT TO PASS DOVER STRAITS London, June 29. Fleet Air Arm Tyhpoons and Albacores operating with the Fighter Command, heavily attacked three merchantmen escorted by E-boats, attempting to through the Straits of Dover under cover of darkness last night. One merchantman and at least two escorts were damaged. The Typhoons went in when the ships were hugging the coast between Cap Gris Nez and Boulogne and pressed home the attack, despite an intense barrage. Albacores took up the attack with bombs. All our planes returned safely. LONG-RANGE GUN DUEL German and English long-range guns were in action for more than an hour across the Straits of Dover late last night. British guns first opened up, to which German batteries replied with three-gun and two-gun salvoes. Shells mostly fell in the Dover area. —P.A. REBUILDING OF RUHR INDUSTRIES London, June 29. The Germans are mobilising labour, including 1,000,000 prisoners of war, to rebuild the Ruhr industries in Austria, according to reports from Ankara. — P.A.

NEW DIVEBOMBING TECHNIQUE

GREAT ACCURACY OBTAINED (Rec. 12.30 p.m.) London, June 29. The R.A.F. is successfully using an entirely new dive-bombing technique against targets in France and the Low Countries, particularly airfields and grounded planes. Typhoon .fighterbombers escorted by fighters begin the attack from anything over 10,000 feet, diving almost vertically on the targets at a speed exceeding 500 miles an hour. Each Typhoon carries 5001 b bombs within a thin casing giving a blast power of the bombs twice their weight. Thus a bomb load of lOOOlbs equals the weight our medium bombers carried in 1939 at 1 llf the Typhoon speed. Typhoons release the bombs in vertical dives, thereby pin-pointing the targets and obtaining an hitherto unknown degree of accuracy. Pilots release the bombs a few hundred feet from the ground, flatten out and speed off at 400 miles an hour. This is more effective than low-level bombing, because the bombs no longer bounce and skid anywhere up to a quarter of a mile from the point of impact. Typhoons once their bombs are away, become extremely fast and powerful fighter planes superior to the Germans’ best—a vastly different proposition from the comparatively defenceless Stuka which has proved the Germans’ best dive-bomber. —P.A.