NEW TARGET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25239, 31 May 1943, Page 3

NEW TARGET

WUPPERTAL BOMBED WIDESPREAD ATTACKS AMERICAN PLANES ACTIVE (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 30. Heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force last night sw itched their attacks to Wuppertal, in the Ruhr. The raid is described as heavy, concentrated, and successful. Thirty-four bombers are missing. Wuppertal, a town of 400,000 inhabitants, is the home of many war industries. It lies in the centre of Germany’s most bombed area. The city was formerly the two towns Elberfeld and Barmen, being combined under the one name Wuppertal. The largest force of heavy bombers yet employed by the United States Eighth Air Force made a threepronged attack against targets .in France late yesterday afternoon, states a joint British and American announcement. Fortresses attacked the U-boat base at St. Nazaire and military targets i at Rennes, while Liberators bombed the U-boat base at La Pallice. Visibility was good and bursts were seen in all three target areas. The Fortresses attacking Rennes and St. Nazaire encountered heavy fighter opposition, and destroyed many enemy planes. They were supported by R.A.F., American, Dominion, and Allied fighters. The Liberators were not escorted to La Pallice. Thirteen bombers are missing from all the operations. Airfields Raided These operations were preceded by R.A.F. bojnbing and fighter-bomber attacks, each ’ with fighter escort, upon airfields in North-western France. Spitfires, Typhoons, and Typhoon bombers were out in force. Typhoon bombers, escorted by Typhoons, attacked the airfield at Maupertus, in the Cherbourg Peninsula, pressing

home the attack in spite of heavy flak. No enemy aircraft were encountered, and all the R.A.F. aircraft returned. Spitfires, which escorted Venturas in an attack on the Caen airfield, saw about six enemy fighters taking off, but these did not succeed in attacking the bombers. The flak was inaccurate, and all the planes returned. On Thursday night the Bomber Command tried out with brilliant results an entirely new form of attack in giving Essen the mightiest battering it has yet endured, says the aviation correspondent of the Daily Express. Instead of the now familiar ' “cascade,” with planes converging against the target in a single mass, they swept over the town in 10 waves. One aim of the new form of attack was to confuse the immensely strong Ruhr defences. • The fact- that'only 23 bombers were lost from the huge force used shows that the technique was justified. Air Vice Marshal Sir Philip Joubert revealed that Allied bombers have so, completely shattered one U-boat base that not one submarine could be launched from it for the next three months. - Inferno of Flames One hundred unescorted Flying Fortresses without loss raided Leghorn, which contains one of Italy’s largest and most important oil refineries, reports the Algiers correspondent of the National Broadcasting Com- . pany. The Fortresses turned the refinery into an inferno of flames and smoke. Two large explosions occurred, after which photographs were taken showing six large fires, with smoke 1000 feet high. The smoke became so .thick that further observation of the refinery area became impossible. Direct hits were scored on two ships in the 'harbour, while railway yards and oil storage tanks were covered. with bomb bursts. A member of the crew of one Fortress said the. place was really “ messed up.” An Italian communique states that raiders bombed Leghorn. Foggia, and Lucera, and localities in Sicily and Sardinia considerably damaging public buildings and houses. Fifty-nine were killed and 349, injured at Leghorn, and six were killed and nine injured at Lucera. In attacking Leghorn, the African air forces struck further north than ever before, says the British United Press. Leghorn is only'9o miles south of Genoa, the most southerly Italian 'city attacked by Bomber Command from Britain. There is no major objective in the 90-mile gap, so that tne Allied air net has been spread practically over the whole of Italy except for ports like Trieste and Fiume. The attack meant a trip of nearly 1200 miles for the Fortresses, the longest thus far made in this area. Leghorn is a vital point in the Italian railway communications down the west coast, in addition to being one of the leading seaports in northern Italy. It is the only regular port for Corsica. “Frightful” Reprisals Threatened Rome radio says neutral correspondents in Berlin .are of the opinion that atrocious and just punishment for the British air attacks is imminent. Diplomatic circles believe that recently- ■ invented German infernal machines arq. .about,, to- be used, the effect of which will be simply frightful. This form of punishment will hit the British suddenly when off their guard. A Wilhelmstrasse spokesman declared that the Luftwaffe had concluded • the preparation necessary to answer tHb British air offensive. The severest counter-measures would now begin.

tary authorities are intently watching the situation, but ultimate defence depends on the will of the Italian population to resist. Meanwhile, military preparations against invasion are continuing. Travellers from Rome reveal that the War Office has not only completed the calling-up of the 1943 class, but also half the 1944 class. Swiss correspondents in Italy report that civilians are attempting to emulate the Londoners by organising shopping and other functions during the hours when raids are least expected. 1 This is particularly true in Naples, Palermo, Messina, and Cagliari, which could not have suffered more from the numeroqs earthquakes in their history than they are suffering now from the raids.

. The Daily Mail’s diplomatic correspondent says the heavy raids against Sicily, Sardinia, and Pantellaria show the oattern of Allied strategy in the Mediterranean. Italy is expecting the worst, and at present is putting up a show of organising a supreme effort. It would be unwise to minimise the courage and tenacity of the Italians in defending their homeland. The majority of experts, however, believe that the Allies would be unwise to attempt the full occupation of Italy. The Allies, therefore, after occupying Sicily, may pause before taking further steps. Japanese Experts Enlisted A message from New Y.ork states that Japanese naval and military experts, accompanied by technicians specially trained in the construction of island defence in the Pacific theatre, have flown to the German-occupied islands in the Mediterranean to inspect the fortifications against “ Allied invasion, says the Istanbul correspondent of the New York Times, who gained the information from foreign intelligence sources. The Japanese mission included a high-ranking riaval officer detached from > active service in the Far East for a special inspection tour of Crete,»Salamis, and other islands on the Grecian coastline. Workers are already feverishly making adaptations conforming to the Japanese recommendations. The close co-operation between the Japanese and German inFelligence services has recently been’ redoubled, with frequent journeys of' personnel to Sofia, which has become the Axis espionage centre for information of invasion. The Germans have also trebled their reconnaissance from Crete and Rhodes. The most obvious evidenbe of extreme Axis uneasiness over possible developments in the eastern Mediterranean at the outset of the summer is seen in the large increase in the Italian, German, and Japanese Embassy and Consular.staffs in Turkey. They are frantically determined to cultivate Allied nationals' in an effort to elicit a hint or-catch an unguarded word about Allied intentions. The correspondent personally knows three non-Turkish neutrals who last week received offers of small fortunes for “ parttime work ” for the Axis, consisting of mixing with Allied society to 1 elicit information of invasion'plans. According to reliable information, the Germans are conducting a merciless spy hunt throughout Crete in an attempt to plug the leakage of intelligence to the Allies. There are daily and nightly executions of Cretan patriots, suspected of being spies. The Germans are offering fantastic sums lor information about Allied invasion plans. Takers, however, are extremely scarce, because traitors are swiftly assassinated by a magnificentlyorganised underground force, which recently clandestinely distributed a list of 528 “ liquidated ” traitors.