COLOGNE POUNDED

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22492, 30 October 1944, Page 5

COLOGNE POUNDED

DESTRUCTION FROM THE AIR ATTACK BY OVER 1000 BOMBERS LONDON, Oct. 29 Cologne, which is the most damaged city of the Ruhr or the Rhineland, yesterday afternoon received its heaviest Royal Air Force raid of the war, states the Air Ministry news servicer More than 1000 bombers went to Cologne and Walcheren, Holland, and more tlian 400 Spitfires and Mustangs escorted the bombers.

This formidable attack on Cologne was made in direct support of the Allied armies now on the German frontier or beyond. The Germans have a number of advanced bases at Cologne and other industrial cities close behind the front line.

The railways at Cologne form a network of yards and junctions which were expressly laid down for strategic purposes and to serve an army fighting in the west. Royal Air Force raiders found the sky clear over Cologne and they agreed that the bombing was well concentrated. They saw large fires. The famous Hohenzollem iron bridge across the Rhine at Cologne, which links the main part of the city with the suburbs on the east bank of the river, was probably destroyed in yesterday’s raid, says the British United Press correspondent. Canadian crews reported that bombs fell right in the centre of the bridge. The only other link between the two parts of Cologne is a bridge of boats.

Seven bombers and one fighter are missing.

Two of the seven bombers reported missing from the raid on Cologne this afternoon landed away from their bases. The crews of two other aircraft are safe.