BERLIN BOMBED

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21517, 4 September 1941, Page 5

BERLIN BOMBED

VERY HEAVY ATTACK HUGE FIRES STARTED WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTION (Omclal Wireless) (Received Sept. 4, noon) RUGBY, Sept 3 A sudden clearing of the clouds over the River Spree gave Royal Air Force bomber pilots the direction to the heart of the German capital last night, enabling them to drop bombs, which they saw burst among industrial buildings, leaving fires burning. Four-engined Stirlings and Halifaxes, weight-carrying Manchesters, and a number of Hampdens were brought over a sea of cloud to the exposed capital to undertake what has been described as one of the heaviest raids—for weight of bombs dropped—on Berlin. The captain of one Stirling said. “As we reached Berlin the guns were shooting up into the main cones of the searchlights. We ran right across the city from southwest to north-east and dropped our bombs. A fire sprang up almost immediately, and a very good fire too, in the centre of the city. The rear gunner could see it fifteen minutes afterwards. Then, after a time, we saw a great explosion and another fire started.” Enormous Explosions The reports in general show that there were enormous explosions when some of the heaviest bombs were dropped on Berlin and a very large fire was seen near one of the main railway stations. While our bombers were over Berlin a heavy attack developed on Frankfurt. Here also there were convenient gaps in the clouds and the flares and moonlight overcame the thickening ground haze which spread out from the Riven Main. On both banks of the river large fires sprang up and grew steadily as our aircraft bombed into them. Other Towns Raided

An Air Ministry communique states that other towns in Western Germany, including Mannheim, were attacked, as well as the ports of Ostend and Dunkirk.

Nine of our aircraft are missing from these operations.