NEW DEVASTATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 25 November 1943, Page 5

NEW DEVASTATION

BERLIN AGAIN POUNDED Over 5000 Tons in a Week MOST BOMBED TARGET IN GERMANY London, Nov. 24. An Air Ministry communique states: Bomber Command planes last night made another heavy attack on Berlin. First reports show that bombing was again concentrated and effective. Mosquitoes attacked objectives in western Germany. Twenty of our planes are missing.” German radio announced that the R.A.F. again bombed Berlin last night causing new devastation in several parts of the city. The attack was expected and special defence precautions were taken. Weather favoured the defence more than the previous night. Night fighters attacked the raiders before they reached the coast. The radio claimed a considerable number of bombers shot down.

Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent says the raid on Berlin last night started gigantic new fires and caused very heavy damage especially in western Berlin near a big zoo. Potsdammer railway station and adjacent warehouses are reported to have been devutatsd. Correspondents of Swedish n«w*p«pers refer to walls of flame over hall < ilie 1 jng after last night’s raid. The Berne correspondent of "Allehanda” states tna'. It is believed 25,000 were killed In at inlay’s night's raid' and estimates fiat me R.A.F. used 900 plane* ui I**'. night’s attack. “Aftoa JMnlagen” states that all work i-i jerlln factories and offices is at a s-a-.ljtill as everybody is being employed in rescue and salvage operations. Entire districts in the capital are burning fiercely. Explosions from blockbusters rocked all sections of Berlin last night, but fires provided the worst horrors. A stormcloud of ashes swept through streets accompanied by terrific gusts of flame caused by the peculiar effect of bomb blasts. The explosions appeared to create a vacuum followed by a cyclone-like wave of fire. The fire-fighting service was incapable of handling the task. Entire blocks of 10 to 12 squares long were enveloped in flames this morning resulting in a summerlike temperature in the city. DULL RED GLOW 50 MILES AWAY Fires started the night before were stil lburning when last night’s heavy bomber force, mostly Lancasters, reached Berlin. Crews saw flares on the clouds when 50 miles from the target. They described a dull red glow and dim outline of streets lit by the previous night’s raid. A pilot making his fourth attack on Berlin said the cloud was a good deal thinner than on Monday night. You could see the city itself through an occasional gap. Soon there was a big area of new fires and one large explosion, although not as large as the previous night, lit up a great part of the sky. Though more night fighters were up than on Monday, the number was still fewer than usual during an attack on Berlin. Heavy flak did not seem quite so intense as the previous night, but was no longer in rough barrage form, while light flak of which there was an enormous amount had no chance of getting within range of the bombers. Searchlights seemed used mainly to light up the cloud and silhouette the bombers. The attack began at 8 p.m. and lasted just over 20 minutes. The bombload dropped brought the weight of high explosives and incendiaries rained within a week on Berlin to well over 5000 tons. One reason for making so early an attack was to avoid going through an approaching storm with bomb bays full. Berlin’s defence services must have been overwhelmed by the task of putting out fires started the night before and preventing them from guiding other forces of bombers to the capital. Pathfinders marked out a new area beside the old fires and all crews agreed the target was extremely well marked. A compact area was lit by brilliant colours throughout the attack. Smoke bursting through the clouds eventually lose to 20.000. Reports suggest that enemy fighters were never really able to concentrate over Berlin even by the end of the attack. , RECONNAISSANCE BY MOSQUITO A Mosquito Reconnoitred Berlin two hours after the last bomber had left The glow in the clouds was seen well over 100 miles away as the pilot approached the city. Right over Berlin he saw a great ring of fire miles in diameter and other big fires southwest outside the circle. 12.0 M TONS THIS YEAR Altogether this year Berlin has received about 12.000 tons of bombs. It had the heaviest total load of any target in Germany during 1943. About 10.000 tons have fallen on Hamburg, 8000 on Essen, Hanover and Cologne, 7000 on Mannheim and Ludwigshafen. But it cannot yet be said that Berlin has been “Hamburged,” says an R.A.F. commentator. Berlin is a vaster target than any other in Germany and requires a far greater weight than Hamburg. Also Berlin is a far greater distance from Britain and difficulties in reaching the target go up in a sharply ascending curve according to the time the aircraft spend over heavily defended areas. It has been gratifying that the attacks on Berlin this month have not exacted the price such a target normally demands.

. "Early retaliation is promised against j the British for raids on Berlin —retaliation not with the Luftwaffe. The German military command regrets 'that things have gone so far and as a result of the behaviour of British terror raiders, it can no longer close its ears to the call for retaliation. Retaliation will be hard, but it will be a fair punishment for all the misdeeds which the British have committed against the German civil i population. The German army is ready to execute retaliation immediately orders are given.” TRAVELLERS’ STORIES A vivid picture of the Berlin holocaust resulting from R.A.F. raids on two successive nights is gained from reports to the Swedish Press of stories told by travellers who say a whole district was flattened by bombs and swept by uncontrollable fires. Arrivals from Germany pictured Berlin as “a flaming torch of ruin.” One traveller who arrived at Malmoe to-day said that Berlin was in a terrible state. Tremendous fires were burning throughout the city. The “Allehanda’s” Berlin correspondent reported that the entire area around Lehrter railway station was “just a mass of flames.” Firefighters, weary after 48 sleepless hours, and handicapped by lack of manpower .had to struggle against suffocating smoke. Even this morning members of the A.R.P. were unable to control the fir6s and remove bodies. The Mittelstrasse running parallel with the Unter Den Linden was carpeted witlf incendiaries and the entire street was a river of flames. Other eye-witnesses say that the heat in some places was so fierce that people were collapsing in tens of thousands and leaving the city, some with only the clothes they were wearing. The toll of damage is growing. University buildings were set on fire and burned throughout the day. The State library was also set on fire. The Todt organisation offices were badly damaged and thj department store, one of the greatest in Europe, was burning furiously. The store backs onto the Vosstrasse in which the Reich chancellery stands. Radio services seem to be completely disorganised.