ALLIED SUPREMACY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 19 June 1944, Page 5

ALLIED SUPREMACY

AIR STRENGTH IN NORMANDY LOSSES AVERAGE ONE PER CENT. LANDING STRIPS ALONG COAST London, June 18. Allied air supremacy in the battle zone of France and well beyond since 6th June is still unchallenged, according to SHAEF. Our air losses are maintaining an average of one per cent. The Germans’ los s is probably near 10 per cent, of the number of their sorties. The positions of the Germans on the Cherbourg peninsula as Allied troops push west towards the coast are becoming increasingly serious from the air. Our fighter-bombers yesterday swept along the whole east and north of the peninsula. Allied landing strips are now operating all along the invaded coast enabling our fighter-bombers and strafing patrols to make many extra sorties. Mosquitoes flew more than 200 sorties in last night’s attacks on railway and road transport and bridges. MOSQUITOES AT BERLIN Bomber Command planes last night attacked military installations in northern France and laid mines in enemy waters, says an Air Ministry communique. Mosquitoes bombed objectives at Berlin and in western Germany. One of ours is missing. STARLIT SKY HELPS FIGHTERS A starlit sky helped night fighter crews of the Air Defence of Great Britain to set up a new record of destruction over Normandy invasion beaches last night. They destroyed ten enemy aircraft, seven being Ju 188’s. This brings the A.D.G.B. total during night patrols ol' beaches to 53 since D-day. Intruders operating over airfields behind the enemy's lines destroyed 25 more. One Mosquito squadron, which as a Defiant unit helped to cover the evacuation of Dunkirk four years ago, shot down five last night. Marauders of the Ninth Air Force this morning moved 80 miles southwest of the battle line on Cherbourg Peninsula to carry but a powerful attack on railway yards and Rennes. At the same time Mustangs in several formations bombed and strafed railway, road and river traffic southwest of Paris and other Marauders and Havocs bombed enemy ammunition dumps camouflaged in a forest at Andaine and other military targets close behind the enemy lines. From all those operations one of our bombers and fighter-bombers is missing FREIGHT TRAINS DAMAGED Catching three long freight trains parked at Rennes, Marauders wrought tremendous damage to yards and left columns of smoke and flame towering 2000 feet. Crew members saw bombs explode into three large buildings adjacent to the railway lines, tear up tracks and derail cars. Earlier in the morning Ninth Air Force Mustangs damaged more than 70 trucks, destroyed two freight trains and five locomotives and blasted a timber yard, roads and bridges in a bombing and strafing sweep near Montreuil-Bellay and Sagaur, southwest of Paris. Two Czech pilots of the Second Tactical Air Force have shot down two FW 190’s which were about to attack eround forces near Caf. The two pilots belong to the first Czech squadron to fly from British soil. This squadron has now more than 50 enemy planes to its credit as well as a long record of damage to enemy shipping and railway transport in occupied Europe.