DAMAGE AT KIEL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24913, 12 May 1942, Page 3

DAMAGE AT KIEL

DOCKS AND SHIPYARDS EVIDENCE IN PHOTOGRAPHS (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, May 10. Recent reconnaissance of Kiel produced evidence of old and new damage to the docks and shipyards, says the Air Ministry. A report has reached England that a bomb in the middle of February fell on a very important assembly shed in the Marinewefft shipyard, which, like all shipyards at K|ieL__is building submarines. The clearer photographs show that the roof of this shed was recently extensively repaired. The bombers that night took Kiel by complete surprise, and caused many casualties among the night workers. The photographs taken during the attack on February 25 showed a fire around a liner in the inner construction basin at Kiel. She was a big ship about 500 feet long, serving, it is believed, as a depot ship for the crew of the Gneisenau, who slept in her every night. The more recent photographs show the vessel completely burnt out. The superstructure has gone, and damage has also been done by fire to the quayside.

Submarine Yards Hit

Bombs recently hit another great submarine building base, namely, the Krupp Germania yards. A direct hit in April destroyed two sections of the angle and plate-laying sheds, which are a large and important part of shipyards. These sheds were damaged at the end of last year. Repairs were just finished when it was again hit. The damage to Kiel includes two main shops in a wire cable factory, both being gutted by fire. In recent attacks on the industrial parts of Cologne bombs hit the Hum-boldt-Deutz works, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. Reconnaissance has shown that nine bays of a large multiple bay factory were completely burnt out on May 6. Smaller buildings were damaged, and part of a

large shop elsewhere in the works was gutted. These works produce mainly Diesel engines for submarines. It is almost as important in this respect as the main factory at Augsberg, and anything which delays production in a factory so vital to the German Navy must be counted as a victory for the R.A.F. No component takes as long to make as a Diesel engine, and delays keep submarines useless on the slips. The damage to the Humboldt-Deutz works may not be as serious as the damage at Augsberg.i but it was another effective counter-blow in the Battle of the Atlantic, and with the damage at Kiel such blows cannot fail to have a cumulative effect. Damage at Cologne In Rolshoren, a suburb of Cologne, two large shops in the Citroen Motor Works were gutted. A stick of bombs fell across a nearby railway. Many warehouses in the dock area of Cologne were damaged. On the east side, Industries Hafen warehouses were damaged by fire. The damage in the Eifeltor goods yard includes a signal box demolished. In the gasworks in the Enrenfeld district of Cologne one shed 400 feet long and another 120 feet long were completely gutted. Large steelworks engaged in constructional engineering were severely damaged. This is a large group of buildings on the south side of Weissenburg Strasse, Dortmund. Two adjoining buildings, one 250 feet by 210 feet and the other 440 feet by 120 feet, were extensively damaged, especially where a heavy bomb landed.