AXIS RAIL COMMUNICATIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 95, 22 April 1944, Page 5

AXIS RAIL COMMUNICATIONS

TARGETS FOR AIR OFFENSIVE DAY AND NIGHT RAIDS CONTINUE (11 p.m.) London, April 21. Bomber Command of the Royal Air Force sent more than 1100 aircraft to bomb enemy railway communications in Germany, France and Belgium last night. Mosquito bombers went to Berlin and more mine-laying was done. Sixteen planes are missing. Main target in Germany was the rail centre of Cologne. This city was bombed through cloud, but the-attack was well concentrated and a great glow of fires could be seen from 200 miles away.

in tseigium me larger was a rail centre 15 miles south-east of Brussels. In France targets in the neighbourhood of Paris and the Pas de Calais areas were bombed. The offensive was continued again this morning, when Spitfires attacked airfields in France. Bombers have since been heard roaring out over the Channel, indicating that the day-and-night offensive against Axis-occupied Europe can still be described as heavy and non-stop. Liberators and Fortresses, operating in very groat strengtn. ithe Exchange Telegrapn Agency est.mates 750 to 1000.1 and Lightning and Mustang nghter-oombers attacked German military targets in nortnwestern France late yesterday atternoon. Strong torces o£ Thunderbolts, Lightnings and Mustangs, estimated at 500 to 750, escorted the heavy bombers Thunderbolts accompanied the lighter-bombers. This was the greatest daylight raid fleet ever sent to occupied territory. Londoners heard the drone ot planes almost continuously for three Hours, which is the longest procession over the capital since the outbreak of war. Circling their targets until they found openings in the clouds, 15u Marauders yesterday afternoon, without loss, dropped 30u tons of bombs on military objectives on the northern coast of France. U.A.F., Dominion and Allied Spitfires escorted the Marauders. ' Paris radio stated that over 180,000 Parisians have been rendered homeless as a result of the raid on the suburbs on Tuesday night. American aircraft probably totalling well over 1750 crossed the Channel on Thursday to continue the great European offensive in a different quarter —northern France. A significant feature was the entire absence of fighter opposition. A communique says: “Operating in very great strength, Liberators and Fortresses on Thursday bombed enemy military installations in northern France. Mustangs, Lightnings and fighter-bombers, accompanied by

Thunderbolts, attacked targets in the same area simultaneously, while all three types, operating as fighters, in a strong force escorted the heavy bombers. The bomber'crews reported no lighter opposition although flak ranging from slight to very intense was encountered. “The escorting pilots reported the destruction of four enemy aircraft in the air and others on the ground. “From these extensive operations, nine heavy bombers are missing. All our fighters and fighter-bombers returned safely.” Two further series of American operations on Thursday were also announced. Of mere than 150 Marauders which attacked military objectives along the northern coast of France, some formations made as many as five separate runs over the targets before they could get clear sights on the objectives through openings in the clouds. No bomber is missing.