GERMAN CAPITAL AGAIN “HAMBURGED”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 279, 25 November 1943, Page 5

GERMAN CAPITAL AGAIN “HAMBURGED”

R.A.F. BATTIRS BERLIN ANOTHER DESTRUCTIVE RAID GREAT DEVASTATION REPORTED (By Telegraph—Pre m Association — Copyright* Recd. 1 I p.m. - London, Nov. 24. Royal Air Force bombers went back to Berlin last night to make their second successive attack on the Reich capital. It was the third heavy raid on Berlin within five days, the first being last Thursday and the second on Monday night. So large was the force which made the attack that v the bombers, squadron after squadron, took threequarters of an hour to cross the Channel coast. The raid was reported to be concentrated and effective. Twenty of our bombers are missing from this and other raids.

On Monday night R.A.F. bombers carried out the heaviest attack yet made on Berlin. An Air Ministry communique stated that the attack was made in very great strength and preliminary reports showed that the bombing was highly effective. The German capital is still burning. Reports arc coming in from the R.A.F. crews that won Monday’s great air victory and wrecked great stretches of the city with 2300 tons of bombs.

The Daily Express, in a leading article, says: ‘ ‘Let Berliners judge from the smoking heart of their stricken city how Hitler’s war is going. He 'took up the sword and is about to perish by the sword.” ' The R.A.F. squadrons on Monday night, made up mostly of four-engin-ed bombers, met few night-fighters, but the Germans threw up a terrific barrage. Searchlights were unable to cone the raiders owing to fog, and the gunners could only blaze into the sky over Berlin. The cloud made no difference to the raiders, who could rely on being guided to their targets by the pathfinders who were out in great force. The oathfinders strewed flares leading to the target and kept the area painted with coloured lights for half an hour. This was so effective that airmen say that nearly every bomb fell in the target area. A crew which watched 50 blockbusters go down said that during that time only one 4000-pounder fell outside the flares. Soon the light from the burning city glowed through the clouds, making Berlin so light that our airmen could see the bombs falling from other aircraft. One explosion was the biggest ever seen from a bomb dropped on German soil. The Germans have admitted serious damage and all reports agree that most of this was in the heart of Berlin, where the Government and diplomatic offices stand. Neutral correspondents say that several important buildings were razed and that none of the streets in this quarter escaped damage. The oeople of Berlin now have no electricity, no gas, and in many parts of the city they have no transport. Twenty-six aircraft are missing from Monday night’s operations, which included Mosquitoes’ raids on western Germany and mine-laying in enemy waters. j It was only four days since Berlin had its last attack. That was the big> raid on Thursday night when more than 350 block-busters were dropped on the capital. In August Berlin burnt for six days and nights after a raid in which 1700 tons of bombs were drooped compared with Monday night’s total of 2300. It is estimated that this year alone the R.A.F. has dropped on Berlin a weight of bombs equal to the total dropped on London in the whole 1940-41 blitz. Monday night’s raid was heavier than any experienced, even by Hamburg. A report from Zurich states that all the districts of Berlin, as well as the suburbs, suffered damage. The devastation was particularly heavy in the centre of Berlin, especially near the Urfter den Linden. the Alexander Platz, and the Friedrichstrasse. The Stockholm Afton Tidningen gives a preliminary estimate of 10,000 killed and injured in the raid. The Berlin correspondent of the Afton Bladet, in a dispatch, said: “We had horrible hours. Berlin has burned all night. Great sections of the dwelling quarters and buildings in the city are still burning to-day covered by a great, black cloud of smoke. Several Embassies and Legations in the diplomatic quarter were burned to the ground. The Afton Bladet’s Berlin office has been destroyed. A number of suburbs have been badly damaged, including Sie-1 menstadt, where the great Siemens electrical works are situated, also j Spandau. Wilmersdorf. Neukoelln. i Lichtenberg, and Pankow. Many of j these areas were hit in previous! raids.”

The Press Association correspondent at an R.A.F. bomber base said: “Berlin was a great sea of flames and explosions which the returning planes saw for 70 miles through solid cloud. The clouds were so thick that the Germans apparently were unable to get a single night-fighter off the ground, but the ground defences threw up a great flak barrage.”

The Press Association’s aviation correspondent estimates that with Monday night’s raid, about 10.000 tons of bombs have been dropped on Berlin this year. This time there was no second target, says a British Official Wireless message. Lancasters, Stirlings, and Halifaxes all went to Berlin. After the raid all the crews were confident of the results. None had any doubt that a great victory had been won. They had beaten night-fighter fcuadrons and also the massed batteries of A.A. guns which served as Berlin’s second line of defence. Their •casualties were well below average, even for attacks on much easier targets. It was another cloud-covcr attack, like that of four months ago. On both the outward and homeward journeys, the bombers flew over hundreds of miles of an unbroken sea of cloud. Over Berlin there was an occasional gap through which the crews caught a glimpse of the ground—the vivid coloured lights of the marker bombs a rising pillar of black smoke, a red patch of fire. But the bomb-aimers were not looking for gaps. The nathfinders dropped in dense concentration and unbroken succession of target indicators and pyrotechnic flares from start to finish. The enemy guns were shooting at the flares as they fell, but nothing stopped the pathfinders from buildfn* up an unmistakable target of coloured lights and keeping it thick

• throughout the attack for just over half an hour from eight o’clock. 1 Soon the clouds began to reflect the • glow of fires below, and even through , cloud several thousand feet thick. ’ Twenty minutes after the first bombs 1 dropped hundreds of crews saw one , of the most violent explosions ever reported from a German target. A navigator said: “Everything suddenly went all white. The brilliance stayed in the sky for a long time and then coloured to a reddish glow, which went on as long as we were over the target. It was like a terrific sunset.** Very few night-fighters were over Berlin, and the Germans were forced to let loose the great barrage which once had been the main defence of the capital before modern tactics forced the enemy to use so great part of his air force to protect the citi/es. The searchlights were blocked by the clouds, and gunners could only blaze away at all the sky above Berlin. There was enough heavy flak, however, to bring the shells near many bombers. Single night-fighters which were over Berlin while the attack was on had to face their own barrage. As during last week’s attack on Berlin most of the A.A. batteries en route were in action. In daylight yesterday American Marauders, escorted by R.A.F., Dominion, and Allied Spitfires, attacked enemy airfields in northern France. Reports reaching Stockholm say that Hitler’s private residence adjoining the Reich Chancellery was burnt out but the Chancellery was undamaged. Ribbentrop’s private palace was obliterated and Goebbels’ private residence was seen afire. The Army Ministry was burnt down except for the ground floor. A choking phosphorus smoke-fog hung over Berlin throughout the day. All windows in the centre of the city were broken. The Stockholm Afton Tidningen’s < Berlin correspondent says: “Berlin can never recover from this blow.” 1 Neutral reports say Berlin’s indusf trial quarter suffered formidable damage. The Mixnandgest, Ludwidloewe and Askanian factories were razed to the ground, also the Oberschoeneweide and Siemens plants, and were still burning yesterday, while, according to the Swedish Foreign Office, the Swedish Match Monopoly offices were destroyed, although no Swedes were killed or injured. Describing scenes during the raid, the Afton Bladet’s Berlin correspondent said: “During the whole night raging fires were visible in different parts of the city. The raiders appeared to come in two waves. The all clear sounded after the first wave left and people rushed to the streets but rushed back to their shelters when the sirens again wailed. When the final all clear was sounded the shelterers went out to assist the fire and rescue services. Fires were still raging over a wide area yesterday. Traffic is practically stopped and many districts are cobdoned off.” Berlin radio quoted a statement by the Foreign Office Press chief, Schmidt: “One sentiment is shared by all—indomitable hatred of an'enemy who strived to exterminate the German nation in a brutal will to annihilate.”

ATTACK “EXPECTED” GERMAN RADIO CLAIMS Recd. 11.35 p.m. London, Nov. 24. The German radio announced: The R.A.F. again bombed Berlin last night, causing new devastation in several parts of the city. The attack was expected and special defence precautions were taken. Th t weather favoured the defence more than on the previous night and night-fighters attacked the raiders before they reached the coast. The radio claimed that a considerable number of the bombers were shot down. PASSENGER TRAFFIC GERMAN BAN IMPOSED Recd. 6 p.m. London, Nov. 23. All passenger traffic in Germany has been suspended sirce Sunday. Even diplomatic personnel traversing Germany has been unable to travel. The Swiss Gazette de Lausanne says tnat Viis was disclosed by a German official journal, and adds'that such a stringent measure has not been taken since a few days before Germany invaded Poland.