DEEP PENETRATION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21818, 22 November 1940, Page 5

DEEP PENETRATION

Long Flight By R.A.F. Many Objectives Bombed By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rec. November 21, 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, November 20. The Air Ministry announced that Royal Air Force heavy bombers last night deeply penetrated enemy territory and spread right across eastern Germany. The majority of the objectives lay along an arc of 350 miles from Kiel through Berlin, Ruhrland (in Silesia) and near Dresden to Filsen where the great Skoda works were attacked. The return trip to Pilsen is more than 1400 miles, but the Royal Air Force for the second time proved able to reach over Europe to a distant town which Germany hoped was safe from attack. Several bombers met terrible weather over Germany with thick cloud down to the hilltops. Over Pilsen the weather was much better. There was thick haze in the valleys but bright moonlight and no clouds. The raid rs flew low. One pilot saw a fire already b; ning and circled the Skoda works for 10 minutes watching the fire spread. Then he dropped his own incendiary bombs and later loosed high explosive bombs and observed a fierce explosion. Members of the Royal Air Force reached Berlin shortly before 4 a.m. and remained for more than an hour. It was only a small force but the results were effective. “Squadrons of the Bomber Command last night carried out widespread operations,” states an Air Ministry communique. “Many objectives were attacked successfully in different parts of Germany. In addition to a raid made on the great Skoda armament works at Pilsen, munitions, stores and other objectives in Berlin, the shipyards and docks at Kiel, Hamburg, and Bremerhaven were bombed and fires and explosions were observed. “Among industrial targets attacked with good results were the synthetic oil plants at Gelsenkirchen and Hamburg and an important electric power station at Hamborn. The railway yards and junctions at Bremen, Berlin, Aurich, and the inland port of Duisbergruhrort were also bombed. “The Coastal Command attacked I’Orient fo _ d the harbour of Barfleur in Normandy. Three of our aeroplanes are missing.” Raids by the Royal Air Force on Berlin and Potsdam last night are admitted by the German radio. The announcement claimed that two of the raiding aeroplanes were shot down after heavy bombs had been dropped. Switzerland had its first dp-Lght alert this morning. An Army communiaue later stated that the alert was due to the annearance of uni dentil n d aeroplanes which had apparently lost their way. “Acts of Cowardice” Hitler has issued a decree authorising a revision of air raid precautions in Berlin. The radio described the Royal Air Force raids over Germany as acts of cowardice. It claimed that four hospitals in Berlin and one at Potsdam had been hit. Much damage is believed to have been inflicted by the Royal Air Force on a large factory in Berlin manufacturing the electrical equipment of the German navy. The raiders arrived at Kiel at 3 a.m. and bombed the naval shipbuilding yards and the five Holtenau locks of the Kiel Canal for more than an hour. The pilots attacking the Deutschewerke shipbuilding yards found considerable cloud even to 500 feet but placed explosive and many incendiary bombs on the yards. In the Ruhrland a synthetic oil plant situated in a clearing in a forest was detected and attacked. Raiders also attacked the Mitteldeutsche oil refinery at Lutzen and started a large fire. The oil refinery at Leuna was damaged and set on fire. Bombs dropped on Aurich are believed to have set fire to an ammunition train. An oil refinery also the Blohm and Voss yards at Hamburg were attacked and incendiary bombs started large fires among a group of five electrical power plants serving many factories at Hamborn. Other targets included railways at Bremen, Osnabruck and industrial buildings at Nohra, near Weimar