ENEMY LIFE LINES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25799, 21 March 1945, Page 5

ENEMY LIFE LINES

POUNDED BY AIR FORCES MARSHALLING YARDS AFLAME (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Mar. 19. The Allied air forces to-day flew more than 7000 sorties, says Reuter’s correspondent at Allied headquarters. Pilots reported that every marshalling yard north of the Ruhr was .either in flames or smouldering. The Ninth Air Force alone destroyed or damaged more than 4000 vehicles of all kinds, most of them in the Moselle-Saar-Rhine triangle. An all-out Allied bid to destroy German life lines on the Northern Rhine front and key rocket installations in Holland reached a new peak of ferocity to-day, state correspondents with the Second Tactical Air Force. In a three-minute attack pilots left in an inferno of flames and smoke some 500 vehicles, including tanks and armoured cars, in a' large German repair depot 12 miles north of Emmerich. The attacked opened with a roof-top level wave, after which the following squadron hit the yard with 10001 b high explosives and fire bombs. The pilots left the yard a mass of burning rubble. , ~ A , Another low-level attack blasted a castle in Holland used as an ammunition dump, which two hours later was still in flames. Buildings believed to house German battalion headquarters east of Dortrecht were wiped out in a few seconds. V-Weapon Supplies

Railways leading to V-weapon sites in a large area, including Arnhem, were cut in 26 places. A small number of jet-propelled planes attacked two Tactical Air Force aerodromes. Some civilians were killed when bombs landed in a nearby village. Medium bombers hammered communication centres, and American planes joined in the general assault on everything moving in the Osnabruck-Munster area. The pilots of one squadron over a group of Rhine airfields found 12 Messerschmitts landing, and destroyed three without loss. The Luftwaffe on the northern front put into the sky one of the largest reconnaissance air forces for many weeks, mostly jet-propelled planes. It was the biggest “look-see expedition since the British and Canadians drove the Luftwaffe across the Rhine RA.F. Lancasters, carrying 22,0UU1D and 12,0001 b bombs this morning attacked the railway viaduct at Arnsbert, south-east of Hamm, and ano^ er duct in the area of Bielefeld. The bombers were escorted by R.A.F. mus tangs. The Lancasters found clear weather, and the bomb-aimer who dropped a 10-tonner on Bielefeld viaduct said he was able to watch the bomb all the way down. Both viaducts carry main lines between the Ruhi. and central Germany. New Targets Hit

More than 1200 Fortresses and Liberators of the United States Eighth Air Force, escorted by over 600 Mustangs, were also over Germany today. The targets were mostly new ones, including a jet-propelled component plant at Baumenheim, airfields at Beuberg and Leipheim, and an industrial target at Plauen. The Luftwaffe suffered heavily. The Mustang pilots, according to preliminary reports, shot down at least 34 planes. The pilots of one squadron alone destroyed 14 attackers. Ihe mixed bag included M.E. 109 s, F.W 110’s, and a few jet-propelled planes. Two of the latter were shot down during an air battle which occurred ever North-west Germany. It was a vain attempt to divert the Fortresses and Liberators lrom their targets. The airfields near* Neuberg and Lipheim were believed to be assembling M.E. 262 twin-engine jet planes. The great Rheinmetall Borsig armament works in the Berlin suburb of Tegel were severely damaged and set on fire on Sunday by United States heavy bombers. Photographs show heavy concentrations of bombs in the area of Schlesischer station and hits on North station freight yards. In the Tempelhof area buildings were hit on the aerodrome and fires started .n marshalling yards. Liberators also hit the Borsig armoured vehicle factory at Her.ningsdorf, another Berlin suburb, causing severe damage to half the plant area. Twenty-five bombers and fire fighters were lost.