"FIRES BEYOND COUNTING”

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22065, 11 September 1941, Page 4

"FIRES BEYOND COUNTING”

Royal Air Force Raid

On Kassel

Heavy Industries Hammered

(Rec. 7.48 pan.) RUGBY. Sept 9. "Fires beyond counting’'—as one observer put it—were caused when the Royal Air Force bombed Kassel in force on Monday night.

The town is a centre for the heavy industries and many of its factories are given over to the production of war materials. Several mam railway lines meet in the town and carry its products to the fronts on which the Germans are fighting. The attack was sharp, sudden and heavy, the Air Ministry says. Even before the main force of bombers arrived there were many fires to signal immediate success. As the attack progressed our crews reported great destruction. Railway sheds were gutted and factory buildings set on fire. Viewed from a great height many fires seemed to be exceptionally vivid. Up to 5000 feet there were swirls and eddies of smoke. The bursting of one stick of bombs was followed by a rush of dense white steam as though a boiler house had been hit. At times there was so much smoke that the effect of individual bombs could not be seen. At other times the fires increased by leaps and bounds as the bombs exploded. Defended both from the ground and in the air, one bomber from 350 feet machine-gunned and silenced a battery of eight light antiaircraft guns and another drove off an enemy fighter. After two bursts the rear gunner saw it swerve and dive away apparently out ot control. The main attack in last night’s offensive over Germany was against KaSsel, Where the extensive Henschel locomotive workshops are situated. These are of particular importance at present in view of the Russian campaign. Of nearly 100 aircraft participating in the attack, the great majority report having reached their objectives, and not a single aircraft is missing, although two members of one crew unfortunately lost their lives to an accident. The Royal Air Force also attacked targets at Munster and other objectives in Western Germany, as well at the docks at Cherbourg.