THE COLOGNE AREA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24635, 17 June 1941, Page 5

THE COLOGNE AREA

ATTACKED BY AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIAL TARGETS SEVERAL FIRES STARTED . RUGBY, June 15. An Air Ministry communique states: —Early yesterday morning aircraft ot the Fighter Command in considerable strength carried cut extensive sweeps over the Channel and Northern France. A squadron of bombers which accompanied them attacked airfields and obtained direct hits on aerodrome buildings. Our fighters destroyed three enemy fighters in combat. During offensive patrols carried out by our' fighters yesterday an aerodrome near Cherbourg and a German patrol boat in the Channel were attacked with machine-gun fire. One of our ay-craft,, a bomber,, is missing from these daylight operations. Last night aircraft' of the Bomber Command were again over Western Germany, and attacked industrial targets in the Cologne area. Fires were started, but low cloud* made it impossible to observe the full results of the attack. None of our aircraft is missing from this operation. Last night, when aircraft of the Bomber Command attacked industrial objectives in Cologne, bad weather was the enemy of the bombers, and navigation the most difficult work of the night. Several crews reported that no land was visible during the greater part of the flight, and over the target itself there were oppressive banks of clouds all the way down from 15,000 feet to 2000 feet. The bombers sometimes found it necessary to dive below the clouds to get their target in sight for the crews to see the fires they had started.

New Zealander’s Experience A former bank clerk from New Zealand now serving as a sergeant pilot in a famous fighter squadron in the Western Desert is in hospital after a series of spectacular escapes in the past two weeks. “In the first, I . found myself on a landing ground with my aircraft destroyed,” he said. “ Germans, armed with tommy guns, were only half a mile away. I was got out of ' that by squeezing into the cockpit of a Hurricane with another pilot, who flew me 360 miles to safety. “A day or two after my return 1 was ground strafing an enemy landing ground and had set fire to two German aircraft when a couple of Bren gun shells hit my radiator. Fumes came into the cockpit, and two Me. 109’s were hot on my tail. One got a burst into my aircraft, and I began to lose altitude. - The elevator control began to misbehave, and I was flying along the top of cliffs trying to shake off the Germans when I saw the, outer defences of Tobruk. Just as safety seemed within reach the aircraft flattened out into a field and burst into flames, which were licking round my legs before I could clamber out. I thought I was still in enemy territory, and dragged myself to a cave, where I lay for hours. A party of English troops out on skirmish took me into Tobruk.” Heavy Axis Losses The ratio of Axis air losses t» British during the week ended dusk, June 14, was nearly two to one. The week’s operations included many massive British raids on Germany, particularly on the. Ruhr and Germanoccupied territory, while the German raids on Britain were relatively light.

The German losses over Britain were 14 (10 night and 4 day); the Royal Air Force losses over Britain 1; the German losses over Germany and German-occupied territory were 8, and the Royal Air Force 27; in the Middle East the Axis losses in the air were 34 and on the ground 20, and the Royal Air Force losses 18. sin addition, his Majesty’s ships destroyed two German planes and probably destroyed another. The Admiralty also announced- the destruction of four enemy plan'es by naval aircraft during the withdrawal from Crete.