HEAVY BOMBERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25561, 14 June 1944, Page 5

HEAVY BOMBERS

MASSIVE OPERATIONS OUT DAY AND NIGHT (Rec. 11.15 p.m.) LONDON, June 13. Over 1000 heavy bombers, Lancasters and Halifaxes, last night pounded enemy raiiway centres north-east of Paris. Their targets were Amiens, Cambrai, Poitiers, and Arras. Another force of Lancasters struck at bridges near Caen in the immediate battle area, while medium bombers bombed German armoured concentrations south of Caen.

Twenty-seven bombers are missing and 19 German planes were shot down by the bombers and escorting night fighters. Lancasters of the R.A.E. also resumed the offensive against German war production. A heavy raid was carried out against the synthetic oil centre of Gelsenkirchen, where large fires were left burning and explosions were observed in the target area. Cologne was also attacked, and mines were laid in enemy waters. Seventeen bombers are missing from these operations. Striking with very great strength, aircraft in daylight yesterday hammered enemy airfields and communications over a 400-mile arc from St. Nazaire to Lille. Armed reconnaissance and medium level-bombing missions were flown from the tip of the Cherbourg peninsula over the battle area and southward to Juvisy. Over 1400 bombers, the largest single striking force of heavy day bombers ever despatched from England, struck yesterday morning against a broad belt of 16 airfields from Dreux to Lille, and six railway bridges in the St. Nazaire and Paris areas..

Strong forces of fighters which escorted the bombers scored hits on a variety of railway targets. On the return flight the railway system focusing at Rennes was the major target, with fighter-bombers severing at several places railway lines leading to the city.

In the meantime medium and light bombers carried out a succession of attacks against railway installations and highway junctions • south of the battle area. Rocket-firing aircraft attacked military ferry installations at Berville-sur-Mer. A ferry boat and the pier were left burning. Other rocket planes on armed reconnaissance struck against a variety of armoured targets. Battle with Enemy Planes

American bombers, attacking the railway junctions at Rennes and Amiens, had a battle with 50 enemy planes, and shot down six.

Pilots who spent the morning divebombing and strafing behind the German lines reported a long list of trucks in railway yards, locomotives, tanks, armoured cars, radio stations, staff cars, and aerodromes damaged or demolished. Marauders carried out two missions against road junctions near the bridgehead. Sky trains yesterday morning dropped over 23,0001 b of supplies to the American troops in Normandy. The Associated Press correspondent at a United States fighter base says the superiority of American fighter pilots over the Germans was demonstrated when a squadron of 12 Thunderbolts broke up an attack from 20 Messerschmitt 109’s over France, and shot down 16 at the cost of only 1 Thunderbolt.

Allied pilots yesterday encountered the strongest Luftwaffe resistance since the invasion began, says Reuter’s correspondent at Allied heaquarters. German fighters were up all over the battle area as the Allied air forces engaged in the biggest operation since the opening of the invasion. Ten trucks loaded with, military supplies, some containing ammunition, were destroyed when the railway station at Bluouze was dive-bombed, and rocket Typhoons made a concentrated attack on German vehicles sheltering in a wood in the same area. Radio installations at Cap De La Heve, near Le Havre, were left in a cloud of and dust. A few Luftwaffe machines put in an appearance over the beaches patrolled by our aircraft, but two fighter-bombers, which flew in low, hoping to escape detection, were crashed down by an R.N.Z.A.F. squadron without loss. One blew up in mid-air when its bombs were hit, and the other dived into the ground. Four further German fighters were destroyed in the course of the morning’s operations. Destruction of Batteries

Further details of pre D-Day bombing show that of 12 German coastal batteries 5 have been destroyed and 7 damaged. This took 4400 tons of bombs. By D-Day the railways west of Paris towards Normandy were a “ railway desert.” There is, in fact, no rail movement west of Paris. German reserves. must come round the south of Paris. Between Rouen and Paris there had been 10 railway bridges. By D-Day eight had been destroyed or made unusable. Of th,e 14 road bridges in the same area 10 had been destroyed and 2 made unusable by D-Day. Three bridges over the Meuse at Liege, one over the Loire Canal at Tours, one over the Canal de l’Escant at Valenciennes, two over the Albert Canal at Hirson and Herenthals, and a bridge over the Loire at Saumur have been destroyed.