BERLIN BOMBED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25798, 20 March 1945, Page 5

BERLIN BOMBED

BIGGEST DAYLIGHT RAID 1300 AMERICAN PLANES RUGBY, Mar. 18. In the biggest daylight assault of the war on Berlin targets, more than 1300 United States Liberators and Fortresses to-day attacked communications in the city and armament plants in the industrial suburbs. The strength of the force surpassed that of the attack of February 26, when 1200 bombers hit Berlin targets. Some 700 Mustangs provided the escort.

The Schlesischer rail centre and north station freight yards, both within two miles of the centre of the Reich capital, were attacked by about 1000 heavies. The remainder attacked the half-mile-square Borsig plant at Tegel, six miles north-west of the centre of the city, and the 120-acre tank factory at Henningsdorf, 11 miles north-west of the city's centre. For more than an hour around noon the bombers sent down 30-ton salvoes every 30 or 40 seconds. Some 3400 tons of high explosives and incendiaries were rained on the targets. About 12,400 high-explosive bombs, many of them 1000-pounders, and 65,000 small incendiaries were cascaded on the rail objectives. The Liberators which struck at the works at Tegel and Henningsdorf laid down patterns of 1000-pounders and large Incendiaries —about 8500 bombs in all. About half the bomber formations attacked visually, sighting - their objectives through big breaks in the clouds over Berlin. The others bombed with the aid of instruments.

Following the raid a news blackout has been clamped down over Berlin, says the British United Press Stockholm correspondent. The only three Swedish correspondents left in Berlin were not allowed to report anything beyond the official communique, but the Morgen Tidningen. quoting a radio source, says the casualties were higher than in any previous raid. The Schlesischer and Stettinger stations, were very heavily damaged and thousands of goods wagons were blown up. A United States Eighth Air Force headquarters communique says 700 Mustangs escorting the heavy bombers shot down 13 enemy planes in scattered air battles, including some with jet-propelled planes over the German capital. Intense anti-aircraft fire was encountered.

“ The bombers hoed a path right down the centre of Berlin, where fires and explosions were raging,” said one Mustang pilot. Among the Fortress pilots was Captain-Don Ong, of China, who was flying his fiftieth mission over Europe. The plant attacked at Tegel produced a wide variety of materials for the German army, navy, and air force, including anti-aircraft guns, field and machine-guns, tanks, armoured vehicles, bombs, and torpedoes. The factory was half a mile square. To isolate V-weapon sites in Holland R.A.F. Spitfires to-day cut railways and blew up bridges and bombed roads linking the rocket zone with Germany, says the Air Ministry News Service. Zhukov’s forces are so close to Berlin they can see at night time German searchlight beams stabbing the sky and the glow of fires resulting from Allied bombing, says the British United Press Moscow correspondent. Raiders have been seen sweeping over Berlin nearly every day.