WEAKLY DEFENDED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25300, 10 August 1943, Page 3

WEAKLY DEFENDED

ITALY’S NORTHERN CITIES

RAIDERS GIVEN NO CONCERN RUGBY, Aug. 8.

A significant fact that emerged from last night’s attack on Milan, Turin, and Genoa, says an Air Ministry communique, was that the Germans had not reinforced the anti-aircraft defences in Northern Italy. No effort had apparently been made to strengthen the defences in these three cities, which, according to the crews, were as weakly defended as ever. There were only one or two night fighters and a little flak, and the searchlights seemed to be handled by completely inexperienced men. One Lancaster pilot who made three previous flights over Northern Italy said there were quite a lot of searchlights when he arrived over Turin, but the ground crews soon went to pieces when the bombing started. “They seemed to have no plan of defence,” he said, “and made no attempt even to build up the beams into cones. At one point, when most of us were over Turin calmly flying backwards and forwards picking out the targets, the searchlights were still in a ring around the city. They might just as well have not been there at all."

When the crews arrived back in England they were all confident that they had hit the targets. “We were a little early, and did a leisurely circuit around Turin,” ene pilot said. “The searchlights were waving rather aimlessly. I do not know who, would have been more surprised if the beams had picked up the Lancasters —the ground crews or the air crews. Then flares were dropped and the city was lit up as though by daylight. We could see the streets, churches, factories, railway lines, and the main station. We made a circuit over the city while the flak and searchlights hardly interfered, and dropped our bombs. Fires began to spring up rapidly, and by the time we left they had a good hold.” Pilots who went to Milan and Genoa reported a similar lack of defence. At first it was believed that three of our bombers were missing, but later it. was learned that one had gone to North Africa because of engine trouble. According to a report received in Zurich from Rome, negotiations for declaring Rome an open city are proceeding, with good prospects of sueC6SS< * The R.A.F. raid on Milan on Saturday changed the city’s face overnight, says the correspondent of a Swiss news-, paper. Streets are gone, houses have disappeared, and the population has vanished. Entire areas are in ruins, and are fenced off.

Reuter’s correspondent on the Italian frontier reports that the raiders dropped leaflets in addition to bombs. The leaflets, it is reported, bore Marshal Badoglio’s “ war goes on ” statement, with this addition, “Are you going on, too? ” The main attack was against the Pirelli tyr: works, where bombs fell on the factory for 20 minutes. Fires visible from the frontier were still burning yesterday.