BIG ATTACK BY ROCKETSHIPS

Southland Times, Issue 25478, 26 September 1944, Page 5

BIG ATTACK BY ROCKETSHIPS

VILLAGE IN FRANCE DESTROYED (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 25. The first detailed description of a rocketship in action is given by a correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, who says that these rocketships were one of Britain’s secret weapons and they made their debut in Sicily. The correspondent saw the rocketships during the invasion of Normandy operating against the village of Franceville which was then crammed with Germans. He says it was the most concentrated bombardment in the history of warfare. The rocketships are known in the Navy as “pipe-racks” from their curious outline. They have been the subject of awed discussion throughout the Fleet and incredible stories have been circulated about their devastating effect. These stories are not exaggerated. The shoot was timed to last four minutes and each craft sent up a handful of ranging shots. They soared up with a tremendous swish and were visible for several seconds, then smoke plumes on the water’s edge showed the accuracy of the aim. The shoot then began in earnest, and the nearest rocketship suddenly disappeared as a monstrous volcano of fire swept her decks. A salvo of rockets from this eruption leapt into the ah’ and flew to the shore. The colossal racket of the discharge had hardly subsided when the craft again erupted and her sister ships joined in. It was a terrifying sight. Battleships, working big guns, were nothing like it. Ashore it seemed that all the artillery in the world had suddenly opened up against Franceville. The entire village was blanketed by explosions in a matter of seconds. There was just one carpet of shellbursts, fire and smoke along a frontage of about a mile and to a dpeth of half a mile. There could hardly have been a house, let alone a German, left in Franceville after the second wave of rocketships came in and added its deadly quota.