GERMAN FIGHTER OPPOSITION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 36, 12 February 1944, Page 5

GERMAN FIGHTER OPPOSITION

STRONGEST YET PUT UP FORTRESSES BATTLE TO RAID BRUNSWICK • By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) ' Recd. 6 p.m. London, Feb. 10. The Luftwaffe, obviously under orders to do or die, gave American Flying Fortresses raiding Brunswick today th.ir greatest air battle over north-west Germany, says the British United Press correspondent at. an American bomber base. The Luftwaffe put every available fighter into the air against a comparatively small force of bombers and their escorts. German fighters attacked 15 abreast while others dived in line astern through the formation, forming what a pilot describes as a “devil’s merry-go-round.” There were never fewer than 75 and sometimes 200 planes attacking the Allied planes. Fast fighters attacked the Allied Thunderbolts, while slower rocket planes attacked the bombers. Twenty-five Thunderbolts at one point engaged 35 Messerschmitt 110’s. The bombers flew on, leaving the fighters involved in a melee five miles above the* ground. One pilot said: "It was like something from the movies, only worse. When a Fortress straggled, all the fighters leaped upon it until it was battered down. Stragglers were dead ducks. Plenty of fighters fell, too, and parachutes filled the sky, mixed with puffs of flak and orange streaks that once were bombers and fighters.” “On Wednesday night Mosquitoes of Bomber Command attacked objectives if Western Germany,” states the Air Ministry. ‘One of our aircraft is missing. “American Marauders this morning, escorted and covered by Allied planes, attacked military objectives in northern France. Formations of heavy bombers of the United States strategic

air forces in Europe to-day bombed targets in the important aircraft manufacturing city of Brunswick, central Germany, and the fighter base ol Gilze-Rijen, Holland. Fortresses attacked Brunswick objectives and Liberators Went to Gilze-Rijen.” Six enemy aircraft were shot down in the neighbourhood of Paris to-da> by Typhoon fighters on offensive patrol, screening Typhoon fighter bombers which were attacking targets in northern France. Two Typhoons are missing. germancapital TRANSFER TO SWEDEN Recd. 6 p.m; London, Feb. 10. German “big business” chiefs are transferring their capital to Sweden, says the Evening Standard. They fear that the Allied bombing and eventual defeat will ruin the German economic machine.. Three of Germany’s largest concerns, Telefunken, Siemens, and A.E.G., have already built new factories in Sweden. They hope that Sweden’s neutrality will protect their money and factories. Behind this move to put German capital into cold storage is the president of the Reichbank. Dr. Walter Funk. He represents many non-Nazi business men whose support of Hitler is waning. His bitterest opponent is the Minister of War Production. Dr. Speer, who is a close friend of Hitler. As German factories crumble under Allied bombs, Dr. Speer urges big business to build other factories in Austria and Silesia, but Dr. Funk replies that any rebuilt factories in Austria and Silesia will come into the Allied bombing range later. Even if they escape, he adds, they may be taken over as reparations by the Allies.