AIR OFFENSIVE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24270, 11 May 1942, Page 6

AIR OFFENSIVE

'ANOTHER HEAVY BLOW GERMAN BALTIC PORT iLABGE FOBCE ENGAGED 19 BOMBERS MISSING By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright XEecd. 10.40 p.m.) LONDON, May 9 The Royal Air Force on Friday night attacked Rostock and Warnemunde, on the German Baltic coast, ■where there is a seaplane base. The Heinkel works are on the road to Warnemunde. Halifaxes, Stirlings, Lancasters, Manchesters, Wellingtons and Hampden's participated in the heavy raid on Warnemunde, They met a fierce barrage, also a great concentration of searchlights, including two comprising as many as 42 beams. Dazzle o! Searchlights Many of the. searchlights were inclined at a low angle, evidently in the hope of hiding the port and factory ■Under* a dazzle of lights, but many bombers went as low, or under the screen of light. Warnemunde is the terminus of the train i ferry to Denmark, which the enemy uses to carry troops and supplies to Norway. It also contains a XT-boat training base and an important aircraft factory. -Nineteen bombers are missing from all operations. The force attacking an important factory at Warnemunde was a powerful one. The target, which is six miles from Rostock, was heavily defended and it is possible these defences have been considerably reinforced after the marked success of the attack on the Heinkel works at Rostock recently* Fires in the Port By the end of the attack there were fires in. the port. Many bombers made low-level attacks from between 400 and 800 feetj hut there was also a great deal of high-level bombing. , A Zm-ich report states that the Royal 'Air Force raids on Stuttgart extensively damaged the Bosch works and also severely damaged the inner town of Stuttgart, Several streets have been evacuated.