RUHR ATTACKED

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24555, 10 April 1943, Page 7

RUHR ATTACKED

INDUSTRIAL TARGETS 21 BOMBERS MISSING ' HEAVY GERMAN LOSSES (Reed. 9.50 p.m.) LONDON, April 9 Royal Air Force bombers were over Germany during the night. They attacked targets in the industrial area of the Ruhr. The weather over Germany was bad and it was difficult to see results. Mines were also laid in enemy waters. Twenty-one of our bombers are missing. An Air Ministry communique states that aircraft of the Fighter Command made a number of sweep over Northern France yesterday. During one of these a wireless station near Ushant was attacked and damaged. Last evening fighter-bombers, escorted by Typhoons and Spitfires, bombed the enemy airfield at Triqueville, near Le Havre. Two of our fighters are missing. It is officially stated that American Flying Fortress and Liberators destroyed 70 German aircraft in the daylight bombing attack on the Renault works on April 4 and during the raid on the Erla works at Antwerp the following day. It has been decided to evacuate civilians from certain parts of Abbeville, says Paris radio. In addition to its airfield, which has been raided many times, Abbeville has important marshalling yards. The Royal Air Force last attacked these targets on Saturday.

SUBMARINE WARFARE GERMANY'S BEST WEAPON CONCENTRATED EFFORTS (Reed. 12.15 a.m.) LONDON, April 0 Admiral Doenitz, Commander-in-Chief | of the German Navy, has decided to concentrate all possible efforts against Britain, above all against her oil carriers, says the Madrid correspondent of the Daily Mail. He intends to do this not only with submarines but an increased number of swift torpedo launches. A German naval spokesman said: "A naval offensive by both under-sea and surface craft is Germany's best weapon against two pressing dangers. The first danger is the growing rhythm and strength of Allied air raids and the second, which is potential but close at hand, is an Anglo-Saxon invasion of Europe. "There is no doubt the submarine is the only offensive weapon that Germany can now use against the Allies and the greatest possible number of submarines is being concentrated along the sea lanes to Britain." DEFENCE OF GERMANY RIFLE TRAINING FOR MALES (Reed. 12.15 a.m.) NEW YORK, April 9 The Stockholm correspondent of the New York Times says a new German ordinance requiring all German males to learn to use the rifle and form target clubs is interpreted as an indication that the Nazis, now reckoning on the possibility of an invasion of their home territory, intend .to organise partisan units modelled on the Russian guerillas. The ordinance apparently applies to men not already designated for the newly-created Home Guards. GUERILLAS IN BOSNIA VANGUARD FOR THE ALLIES (Reed. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, April 9 Paratroops dropped from planes from Alexandria or Moscow are acting as military advisers to partisans resisting the Germans in Bosnia, says Berlin radio, which added that the guerillas aimed to prepare a second front on the Continent by forming n vanguard in the Balkans for an Allied invasion. FREQUENT SEA BATTLES LIGHT FORCES' SUCCESSES LONDON, April 9 During the past month light Allied coastal forces have been fighting on the average one battle every three days around the coast of Britain and further afield and have scored a 10 to one victory over the Germans. In 10 successful actions ranging from the Straits of Dover to the Norwegian fiords and the Netherlands coast to the Dogger Bank they have returned the following balance-sheet: —Enemy losses: Three E-boats, three large supply ships, two medium supply ships, one patrol craft and one armed trawler, isunk; three patrol craft, one large tankeir, one small supply ship, one escort vessel and several E-boats, severely damaged. Our casualties in the same period were one light coastal craft sunk and a few ships which sustained superficial damage. HELICOPTER TAXIS SERVICE FROM ROOFTOPS (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April S A helicopter taxi service which picks up a group of businessmen from the roofs of their own offices in Boston and deposits them on their office roofs in New York is envisaged by Mr. Samuel Solomon, president of NorthrEast Air Lines, who disclosed plans for the postwar use of helicopters conveying mail and passengers from city rooftops to aerodromes as an aorial taxi service. Mr. Solomon said that as an initial step there was filed to-day with the Civil Aeronautics Board an application for a helicopter service, carrying air mail and express freight between the rooftops of 400 post offices and railway stations in six New England States and Now York. Mr. Solomon said the service would operate not only between cities and towns but also, from congested urban areas to airports. He added that the helicopter has tremendous possibilities, and he envisaged a machine carrying 20 passengers.