FIERCE ENGAGEMENTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 April 1942, Page 3

FIERCE ENGAGEMENTS

WITH ENEMY FIGHTERS BOMBERS FLY AT LOW LEVEL ACROSS 1,000 MILES OF HOSTILE TERRITORY. ATTACK MADE AT CHIMNEY HEIGHT. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, April 18. The raid on Augsberg was conducted by 12 of the new four-en-gined Lancaster aircraft and their crossing of more than 1000 miles of enemy and enemy-occupied territory in daylight was one of the most daring flights of the war. They flew all the way at a very low level and many people in England saw them setting out during the afternoon.

The Machinenfabrik Augsberg Nurnberg factory which was the objective of the raid, makes no less than 50 per cent of Diesel engines for submarines and to cut down the supply of these engines is to throw the whole submarine building programme out of gear. Our bombers came in over the factory at chimney height and the aircrews saw the burst of bombs on the target.

The factory was heavily defended by anti-aircraft guns, and there were even gunposts on the roof, the crew of one of the planes reporting having seen more than one wiped out by bursting bombs. Almost from the start of, the outward journey, the Lancasters experienced fierce engagements with enemy fighters and four of our bombers were shot down south of Paris, but the remainder pressed on to their objective. Three other Lancasters were shot down by anti-aircraft fire after making their attack, but the remaining five landed safely at their bases well before midnight.

A RUNNING BATTLE. A squadron-leader who led the first section, giving his own account of the raid, said: “As soon as the French coast came into sight, I took my formation down to 25 to 30 feet, and we flew the whole of the rest of the way to Augsberg at that height. Soon after we crossed the coast, enemy fighters appeared in fairly big numbers, and a fierce running fight developed. “It was our job to pierce straight through to the target, so we kept in the tightest possible formation—wingtip to wingtip—so as to support each other by our combined fire. We went roaring on over the countryside, lifting over hilis and skimming dowp valleys. Fighter after fighter attacked us from astern. Their cannon shells were bursting ahead.

“We were continually firing at them from our power-operated turrets. We rushed over the roofs of a village and I saw cannon shells which had missed us crashing into the houses, blowing holes in the walls .and smashing the gables of roofs. The fight lasted 15 minutes or so and aircraft were lost both by ourselves and by the Germans. Then their fighters gave up, probably running out of ammunition. After that we had no more trouble till we reached the target.

“We swept in across France and skirted the border of Switzerland into Germany. I pulled the nose of my aircraft up a trifle to clear a hill, pushed it down on .the other side and saw the town of Augsberg.

TARGET ACCURATELY BOMBED, “We charged straight at it. Our target was not simply the works, but certain vital shops in the works. We had studied their exact appearance from photographs and we saw them just where they should be. Low-angle flak began to come up thick and fast. We were so low the Germans were even shooting into their own buildings. They had quantities of quickfiring guns. All our aircraft had holes made in them.

“The big sheds which were our targets rose up exactly ahead of me. My bomb-aimer let go. Our bombs, of course, had delayed action fuses or they would have blown us all up. We roared on past the town and I had the painful experience of seeing one of my formation catching fire. I was thankful, to see it make a perfect forced landing. “At that moment, all our bombs went up. I had turned and so could see the target well. Debris and dust were flying in the air. Then I set course for home. The light was beginning to fail. I was not attacked again. Till dark we again flew a few feet above the ground. Then we rose to normal height and got home without further incident.