HEAVIEST RAID OF WAR BERLIN BATTERED FOR HOURS

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22063, 9 September 1941, Page 5

HEAVIEST RAID OF WAR

BERLIN BATTERED FOR HOURS

Chain Of Fires At Boulogne

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (1 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 7. Berlin last night received its heaviest raid of the war. Hundreds of Royal Air Force bombers were in Action and the greatest concentration was over Berlin. They operated over the German capital from midnight until the early hours of the morning. Some of Britain’s heaviest bombers were used. British night fighters were engaged in coastal raids during the night.

A great chain of fires raged in the Boulogne area last night after what appeared to be a 90-minute R.A.F. bombardment. Thousands of persons from Ramsgate to Dungeness watched the blitz in clear moonlight. Field glasses revealed fierce fires at the water’s edge. The attack began an hour after nightfall. Parachute flares illuminated the target and searchlights and anti-aircraft defences flashed Into action from Boulogne to Cap Gris Nez, spangling the sky with shellburet* and fiery fountains of flaming opions. The last of the raiders recrossed the Channel at 11.30 p.m., but the biggest Are then was fiercer than ever. German bombers replied with an attack on a south-east coastal town wrecking two inns and damaging numerous houses and shops. The casualties include some killed.

.An Air Ministry communique states: Last night enemy activity was confined to the east coast of England and Scotland. Bombs dropped at a place oh the south-east coast and at one point in East England causing damage and a small number of casualties. Elsewhere the damage was only slight. Three hundred and fifty German women now under detention come from the Industrial districts of the Ruhr. They have been Imprisoned because

Kmly expressed discontent at itions to which they had been as a result of the Royal Air lombardment. Moreover 250 agents on duty in Strasburg r returned to Germany to reine police supervision of the trlcts where civilian discontent ia most apparent. The Berlin radio admitted that the Royal Air Force last night dropped explosives and incendiaries on Berlin resulting ih civilian casualties. It also admitted that the raid on Berlin was lively. The R.A.F. in addition raided western and northern Germany. The Berlin radio accuses the R.A.F. of purposely hitting a hospital during the attack on the night of September 5. Off the Dutch coast, an enemy supply ship was sunk, its escbrt damaged, and a German fighter shot down. Over Northern France, another German fighter was shot down. A small number of British bombers attacked a carefully-concealed factory at Huis, in Western Germany, where synthetic rubber is turned out for Hitler's armies and air force. -The pilots on the flight knew that the factory was Isolated, hidden skilfiflly in a thick wood. Careful navigation checks were made on roads, rivers, and forests by the light of a small harvest moon, and many of the bombers circled about for some time before they located the target.

One Whitley bomber ranged round the site for an hour and a half until the crew was certain of its mark. Intense anti-aircraft fire and searchlights were encountered. Direct hits were observed on storage tanks, and great ftres sprang up. accompanied by clouds of dense smoke.

Other raids were made elsewhere in Western Germany, and, in Norway, a fish-oil factory was set ablaze. -Eight British bombers were lost. y Fortresses Attack Oslo lAbout noon yesterday Flying Fortress bombers of the Royal Air Force bombed the docks at Oslo, causing much damage. This attack, in which tlft bombers operated from the substratosphere, was the longest bombing flwht the Fortresses have yet made, oJo being 500 miles from their bases, pf this attack the Air Ministry states; “In the course of a highaltitude reconnaissance in the morning, Fortress aircraft of the Bomber Command attacked enemy shipping in Oslo harbour. No aircraft are missing.” Enemy air activity over Britain vzas slight last night. Bombs were dropped in the south-west, causing damage and slightly injuring a small number of people.

Seen in relation to the intense and unremitting offensive against German and German-controlled military and industrial objectives during the' continuing period of German inactivity over Britain, Royal Air Force losses of aircraft in the week ending September 6 bears a very favourable comparison With Axis losses for the same period.

Over Britain, Germany lost four and the Royal Air Force nil. Over Europe, the Germans lost 14 fighters and the Royal Air Force 11 fighters and 28 bombers. In the Middle East, Axis losses were 20, Royal Air Force seven, giving a total of Axis 38, Royal Air Force 46.