R.S.F.'S'BLOCK BOMBS' SET DUISBERG AFIRE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 172, 23 July 1942, Page 5

R.S.F.'S'BLOCK BOMBS' SET DUISBERG AFIRE

DEVASTATING RAID

Powerful Bomber Force Strikes At Ruhr U.P.A. and British Wireless. Rec. 2 p.m. LONDON, July 22. More than 50 bombs, each of 40001b, called by the Germans "block bombs." because each is capable of wiping out a whole block of buildings. were among the load dropped on Duisberg last night by a force of at least 300 heavy and medium R.A.F. bombers. What the crews described as "really good fires were seen in the city itself and in the docks of Duisberg-Ruhrort and made a useful landmark for the crews to guide them to Duisberg. Duisberg is the chief outlet for material from the Ruhr factories.

The Air Ministry states that a strong force of bombers last night attacked targets in the Ruhr. _ Many large fires were started at Duisberg, which was the main objective. Bombers and fighters maintained intruder patrols over enemy aerodromes in France and the Low Countries. Thirteen of our bombers are missing and one Coastal Command plane is missing from an offensive patrol. The Berlin radio admits that material damage resulted from the R.A.F.'s latest raids on the Ruhr. One enemy bomber was destroyed over England last night.

Stalin's Order Dropped

The Moscow radio says British pilots dropped M. Stalin's May Day order throughout the Rhineland and Ruhr and also the maritime regions and central Germany. In his order, M. Stalin, after declaring that the Soviet was fighting for justice and freedom, said the Red Army had everything for fulfilling its aim to destroy the German invaders and to make 1942 the year of Germany's final defeat.

German newspapers are complaining that the people are again reading R.A.F. pamphlets, instead of handing them to the police. The newspapers emphasise that children and foreign labourers must not be allowed to read dropped leaflets. According to information from a reliable foreign source, the R.A.F.'s thousand bomber raid on Cologne on May 30 caused indescribable devastation. Over 10,000 people killed in the raid were buried in common graves.

The Moscow radio says Koenigsberg. on the Baltic, was again raided on Monday night under difficult "weather conditions. Six large fires were started.

The Church of St. Nicholas, at Yarmouth, the biggest parish church in England, dating from twelfth century, was burned out in a recent night raid. The only undamaged section was the reredos, with the central figure of Christ with hands upraised in blessing.

The church was founded by Bishop de Losinga, and was 230 ft in length, 110 in breadth, and 148 across the transept, with a modern spire 168 ft high. A feature of the church yard is the number of tombstones to drowned mariners.