HEAVY ALLIED AIR RAIDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 276, 22 November 1943, Page 5

HEAVY ALLIED AIR RAIDS

BERLIN AND LUDWIGSHAFEN ENORMOUS DAMAGE REPORTED (By Telegraph—Preee Aiiaoeiallon—Copyright) Reed. 9 p.m. Izindon, Nov. 20. For the first occasion heavy bombers from Britain on Thunday night carried out two major raids on Germany in the same night. The targets were Berlin and Ludwigshafen, important chemical and industrial town on the Rhine opposite Mannheim. • It is believed that the R.A.F. dropped over 2500 tons of bomb* cn Berlin and Ludwigshafen. The previous heaviest bomb load dropped on Germany in one night, according to available figures, was 2300 tons against Hamburg, on July 27. All reports from neutral sources indicate that Berlin is still stunned by the massiveness of Thursday night’s air raid. Swiss messages received in Stockholm state that the great weight of block-busters dropped caused enormous loss of life and destruction. Traffic in Berlin was completely paralysed.

Berlin radio announced that Air Chief Marshal Harris and Mr. Dingle Foot, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Warfare, both of whom advocated a terroristic air war against the civilian population, have been included in the German register of war criminals.

The Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm newspaper Aftonbladet says: “R.A.F. bombers struck mainly against the outskirts of Berlin, where i considerable number of war factories are concentrated.”

A German High Command communique states: “Enemy bombers on Thursday night raided several places in western and northern Germany, including Berlin. Fairly heavy damage is reported from Mannheim.”

Thirty-two planes were lost, but they represent only a small proportion of the attacking force.

“Over 350 40001 b. bombs fell on Berlin on Thursday night," says the Air Ministry news service. “By making major attacks on two great industrial cities on the same night, the R.A.F. Bomber Command set a new record, and by attacking targets as far afield as Berlin and the upper Rhineland imposed a great strain on the air defence of Germany." An all Lancaster force, including Australian and Canadian squadrons, attacked Berlin in difficult weather. All the way from the Dutch coast to the target, cloud covered much of the ground, but the bombing was strictly on the targets, lit by pathfinders. Fires glowed over a wide are and a series of violent explosions burst through the clouds, even at moments when the flashes of 4000-pounders were hidden. Only occasionally when the cloud shifted could the fires be seen. Beginning just before 9 p.m., the attack lasted half an hour. The weather made it difficult for the enemy to deploy a large force of night fighters, and many crews reported no signs of fighters. Others had brief, inconclusive 'encounters. Searchlights were blocked by the clouds, and the flak, while intense, was mostly in a crude barrage form. CRESCENDOOF ATTACK WEARING DOWN NAZIS Reed. 6.30 p.m. Rugby, Nov. 19. “In fighting the German we have met his strategy. Though considerably outnumbered at times, we have defeated him at every turn. All we have to do is to increase our numbers of bombers and fighters proportionately to maintain the crescendo of our attacks on the German war machine, and the heavy industries will undoubtedly crumble." This statement was made by Major-General W. E. Kepner, commander of the United States Eighth Air Force, in London to-day. The general said that while he was satisfied with the performance of the American fighters he could foresee the creation of a super-fighter. “I believe we can build a fighter to go wherever you need fighter protection," he said. “It may not look like the present fighter, but it will do the job of breaking down defence." Major-General Kepner said that the German rocket planes were not causing our fighters any trouble at the present lime. Our record against them was very good, and there was no indication of increased use of tnem by the Germans.—B.O.VV. A NEWJPEAK AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION Recd, 6 p.m. Rugby, Nov. 19. The output of aircrait in Britain in October was the highest ever recorded, and in that month twice as many heavy bombers were produced as in December, 1942, said the Minister of Production, Captain Oliver Lyttelton, to-day, when he visited war factories in northern Ireland. The munitions output was now at about the highest level ever reached —5O per cent, above the first quarter of 1942, he said. “Naval shipbuilding is still expanding,” the Minister skid. "In 1943 the completion of major vessels, from battleships to corvettes, has totalled 170. Over 2000 naval vessels of all types will be completed. We are devoting a large part of our time to intensive study of specialised forms of equipment and transport necessary to brine- the maximum impact to bear on the Japanese empire. “We have grasped the initiative a :d must hold it. Now is the time to get after the Germans and over,.helm them by sheer weight of material. Our plan is to hound and harass the German army, w.iich is already dangerously weakened by disasters in Russia. I stay to th? workers in the United Kingdom that toe moment ot supreme effort has come.’’ The Minister declared that Northern Ireland had proved to be a suie shield against U-boat attack. "This grim warfare is well in hand,” he said, "and that is due in very large measure to Northern Ireland. Tne production you are giving over a wide field of our industries has piovvd one of the greatest features of the present war.”—B.O.VV. SUBURB OF COLOGNE RAIDED Recd. 7.30 p.m. Rugby, Nov. 20. The Air Ministry announced that R.A.F. bombers last night attacked Leverkusen, a suburb of Cologne, and other objectives in the Rhineland. Mines were laid in enemy waters. Five aircraft are missing. Leverkusen was last bombed on August 22. It has many big chemical works. —8.0.W.

WORK FORTHE GERMANS ONE OBJECT OF RAIDS Recd. S p.m. London, Nov. 19. One point about tne Anglo-Ameri-can round-the-clock offensive was stressed by Mr. Dingle Foot, Parliamentary Secretary of Economic Warfare. Quite apart from the colossal damage, he said, at least one and ahalf million Germans were tied down on anti-aircraft batteries and civil defences. Our main object was to destroy work and make work, and the Germans had been compelled to switch a large part of their labour forces to other than war production. The German Government now had a big housing problem on its hands. It was estimated some weeks ago that R.A.F. raids had compelled 5,500,000 people in Germany to look for somewhere else to live. The American daylight bombing was an enormous addition to our striking power. One of the most important achievements was to bring about a substantial fall in the German output of fighters.