NON-STOP AIR OFFENSIVE MAINTAINED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 150, 28 June 1943, Page 5

NON-STOP AIR OFFENSIVE MAINTAINED

BATTLE OF THE RUHR ANOTHER BIG RAF. ATTACK STRONG ENEMY OPPOSITION (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) Recd. 6.30 p.m. Rugby, June 26. The R.A.F. finished a week’s continuous night bombing with yet another attack in the Ruhr area, the fourth in five nights. The objective was the Bochum-Gelsenkirchen district, which ties in the heart of the Ruhr, and the defences of Essen, Duisburg, Krefeld, Mulheim and Oberhausen, towns heavily bombed in recent attacks, went into action. An intense barrage came up, but the huge searchlight belt of the Ruhr was handicapped because of cloud, and different tactics from that used in the recent raids had to be employed. Instead of trying to cone the bombers the Germans directed the searchlights to the base of the cloud, so that the bombers would be clearly silhouetted and picked up by fighters.

There were running tights all along the route from the Belgian coast through the Ruhr and back again. Despite the cloud the night,never became very dark, but enemy fighters were no more successful in stopping the bombers than on the previous night, and the clouds over the target were soon glowing from fires. Bochum and Gelsenkirchen hare each a population of about 300, and many coal-mines. Bochum is the centre of the most prolific part of the Ruhr coal basin, while Gelsenkirchen is the chief steam-coal mining centre. Both have many important factories. There Is a big steel industry at Bochum, while Gelsenkirchen also produces steel and has two of the largest synthetic oil plants in the Reich Some of the most important railway communications pass through the district. According to Mr. Elmer Davis, Director of the United States Office of War Information, mere than 1000 fighter planes and 30,000 anti-aircraft guns have been assembled in the Ruhr, and the Allied losses in the week have been heavy. They amounted to 173 bombers, of which 38 were American, and the lors of about 1500 highly-trained men. The Germans probablv lost a good many more aircraft in the week.—B.O.W.