STORIES BY PILOTS

Waikato Times, Volume 193, Issue 22204, 25 November 1943, Page 5

STORIES BY PILOTS

BIG AREA OF NEW FIRES ATTACK LASTS 20 MINUTES (Received Nov. 25, 1 p.m.) - LONDON, Nov. 24 A pilot making his fourth attack on Berlin said: “The cloud was a good deal thinner than on Monday night. You could see the .city itself through an occasional gap. Soon there was a big area of new fires. One large explosion, although not as large as those on the previous night, lit up a great part of the sky. Though more night fighters were up than on Monday the number was still fewer than usual during an attack on Berlin. The heavy flak did not seem to be quite so intense as on the previous night, but it was no longer in a rough barrage form, while the light flak, of which there was an enormous amount, had no chance of getting within range of the bombers. The searchlight seemed to be used mainly to light up the cloud and silhouette the bombers.” The attack began at 8 p.m., and lasted just over twenty minutes. One reason for making so early an attack was to avoid going through the approaching storm with the bomb bays full. Berlin’s defence services must have been overwhelmed by the task of putting out the fires started the night before and preventing them guiding another force of bombers to the capital. Great Ring of Fire

Pathfinders marked out new areas beside the old fires. All the crews agreed that the target was extremely well marked. A compact area was lit by brilliant colours throughout the attack. The smoke, bursting through the clouds, eventually rose 20,000 feet.

Reports suggest that enemy fighters were never really able to concentrate over Berlin, even by the end of the attack.

A Mosquito reconnoitred Berlin two hours after the last heavy bomber left. The glow in the clouds was seen well over 100 miles away as the pilot approached the city. Right over Berlin he saw a great, ring of fire miles in diameter and other big. fires in a south-west circle.

Altogether this year Berlin has received about 12,000 tons of bombs. It had the heaviest total load of any target in Germany during 1943. About 10,000 tons have fallen on Hamburg, 8000 tons on Essen, Hanover and Cologne, and 7000 tons on Mannheim and Ludwigshafen.

“But it canr.ot yet be said that Berlin has been ‘Hamburged,’ ” says a Royal Air Force commentator. “Berlin is a vaster target than any other in Germany and requires a far greater weight than Hamburg. Also Berlin is a far greater distance from Britain and the difficulties of reaching the target go up in a sharply ascending curve according to the time aircraft can spend over heavily defended areas. It has been gratifying that the attacks on Berlin this month have not exacted the price that such a target normally demands.”