NON-STOP ATTACK

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22063, 14 June 1943, Page 3

NON-STOP ATTACK

GERMAN BASES STRUCK BOCHUM, BREMEN, KIEL HEAVY DAMAGE CAUSED (Official Wlreiessi (Received June 14, 1 p.m.) RUGBY, June 13 Bombers in great strength were again over the Reich last night and today. The main objective was Bochum, in the centre of the Ruhr. From these and other operations during the night 24 bombers are missing. So many aircraft were engaged in bombing Bochum that one pilot, describing his experiences, said his chief worry was trying to avoid collisions. Although the raid was not as heavy as the record attack on Dusseldorf the previous night, over five 4000l pound bombs were going down every j minute, states the Air Ministry news ! services'. This, of course, was in ad- ! dition to tens of thousands of incen- | diaries and hundreds of other high explosive bombs. | Two large formations of American Eighth Air Force heavy bombers , attacked the strongly defended Ger- ' man naval and submarine centres of ! Kiel and Bremen in daylight. The bombers made penetrations into Germany without fighter escort and against very strong fighter opposition which was concentrated largely ! against the formation attacking Kiel. Battle Over Kiel | Bremen and Kiel which account ' for a considerable percentage of Üboat production and servicing, were , bombed effectively. The attack oc- ; casioned the greatest air battle in ; which Eighth Air Forc6 heavy bombj ers have yet participated. | Eighth Air Force fighter squadrons j carried out two successful sweeps over the enemy-held coast on Sun- ' day. In the morning a flight of : P47’s pursued and engaged a score jof enemy fighters, destroying three j without loss to themselves. In the ! afternoon fighters destroyed two I more of the enemy. From the bombing raid and these operations 26 bombers and two fighters are missing. A battle between two Mosquitos of the Fighter Command and one large four-engined Kurier, used by Germany in long-range attacks on shipping and as spotters for U-boats, occurred over the Bay of Biscay this morning. The Mosquitos developed a methodical attack and sent the Kurier crashing into the sea. One Mosquito put two starboard engines out of ■ action while the other attacked and put out the port engines. One pilot said the Kurier appeared to be struggling alci? with a heavy load of petrol, probably bound for a long journey out to sea. Four Hundred Over Bochum It appeared to the four hundred bombers that sent to Bochum last night that the Germans after nearly three and a-half months of the Battle of the Ruhr have strengthened their defences, having brought up many more guns to help the outer ring of defences. 1 “As soon as we reached the fringe of the Ruhr the whole place seemed to come alive with hundreds of gun flashes,” said a Halifax pilot. “The barrage did not let up once. From then on it appeared as if the Germans had massed guns miles deep.” Another pilot commented upon the number of searchlights. He counted over 100 to the west of the target and 80 more to the east. Two huge cones of about 70 searchlights were sweeping over Munster. As the number of bombers over the targets increased the co-ordinated defence began to waver. Later arrivals found two large areas of fire, one in the northern district and one in the southern, and some pilots were guided to the target by the glow in the clouds.

Bochum, in the eastern Ruhr, has a population of 320,000 and is the centre of the most prolific part of the Ruhr coal basin. It has a great number of coak oven plants and an important steel industry. A pilot found the fires started the previous night at Munster still burning when he flew over yesterday. Two districts in particular had been badly hit.