R.A.F. ATTACK ON WUPPERTAL

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23962, 1 June 1943, Page 5

R.A.F. ATTACK ON WUPPERTAL

More Than 1500 Tons Of Bombs BIG FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS (N.Z Press Association— Copyright) (Rec. 8.30 p.in.) LONDON, May 30. By the time the Bomber Command’s heavy attack cn Wuppertal, in the Ruhr, was over last night, smoke from fires burning in the city had reached a height of 15,000 feet, says the Air Ministry, describing the raid. Scores of fiercely burning fires had merged, one pilot said, into a single huge conflagration. Wuppertal is on the edge of the Ruhr and came into being in 1929 when the Germans united the two industrial towns of Elberfeld and Barmen. It was the first time the place had been attacked, and its first raid was one of the heaviest of the war. The load of bombs dropped was well over 1500 tons. The Germans did everything they could to stop the bombers. Scores of searchlights were in operation, and heavy and light anti-£«rcraft guns put up an intense barrage. Night fighters were out in force. But over Wuppertal itself the defences gave out. One pilot said there were only about a dozen heavy guns and one or two searchlights, and later arrivals said there was no opposition at all. One of the nilots said that there was s'-me haze when he arrived over Wuppertal, but the fires took hold pretty quickly, and he was able to pick out buildings and factories easily. Then really good fires caught hold, and great clouds of smoke began rolling up. Just as he was leaving there were two huge explosions and a mass of flame leapt 800 feet in the air Wuppertal had a population of more than 400,000 before the war, and this had probably been increased. The town, which stretches over .10 miles along the narrow Wupper valley, contains many small factories producing narts for the Ruhr industries. There are also two big factories there, one of them being the chemical factory ot T.G. Farbenindustrie, which produces dyes and medical supplies. One Lancaster pilot, Sergeant John McCrcssen, was on his way to the target when his aircraft was hit by a burst from a heavy shell and the starboard outer engine gave outr. Sergeant McCrossrn went on and bombed the target. On the way Imme the Lancaster was again hit and the port outer engine was virtually put out of action. The bomb doors would not close and the aeroplane began to lose height. Sergeant McCrossen ordered the crew, to get ready to jump and to jettison (he guns, ammunition, armour plating and even the rest bed. Then, with only two engines working proper-y he managed to keep the Lancaster flyjffS at 3000 feet across Germany on the way home. _ , , Two enemy night fighters are c’aimed to have been shot down and another was probably destroyed. Thirty-three British aircraft are m it'is ß officially stated that Typhoon bombers of the Fighter Command attacked the Mondeville steel work'-. n"ar Caen in north-west France, this afternoon. They scored direct hits on the works and on adjoining railway lines. Ail the Typhoons returned. A supporting Spitfire wing encountered about 12 Foeke WuKs about 24.000 feet above L% Havre, and in a dogfight -hot down four of the enemy. One Spitfire is missing , A coasting shm was left enveloped in steam, with the stern ablaze, after an attack by other Typhoons on an enemy convoy of Several small ships approaching Flushing earlier in the day.

RAID ON RENNES BY FORTRESSES

PARIS AND VICHY RADIO REPORTS ißgc 8 p.m.) LONDON, May 31. The Paris radio stated that 170 persons were killed 3nd 203 seriously injured in Rennes in a raid by Flying Portresses on Sunday. The dead would be buried in a mass grave. All primary schools were being closed as a precaution. ~ ... Earlier the Vichy radio said trial Allied aircraft bombed Rennes from a high altitude. The raid lasted only a few minutes, but many casualties and extensive damage were caused in residential areas. Ninety-five dead had been recovered.

OUTCRY AGAINST , BOMBING

“THE TIMES” COMMENTS ON AXIS REACTION (Rpc 7 p.m.) LONDON, May 30. “The Times,’’ in a leading article on the general air offensive, says; “It is no accident that, at a time when the Allied air attack against the war industries of Germany and against the exposed bases of Italy is growing in scope and weight, there should be loud laments from Berlin and Rome about the iniquity and inhumanity of bombing. What moves the enemy to selfrighteousness is not the criminality of air warfare but his present inability to exploit it as he did when he was strong and his adversaries weak. The Allies’ major attacks have already disrupted his war effort.’’

MOBILE X RAY UNITS IN R.A.F.

WORK TO BE EXTENDED LONDON, May 30. A new technique of mass miniature radiography developed by the Royal Air Force enables hundreds of people to be X-rayed in a day by one small mobile medical unit and the results examined almost immediately. This allows tuberculosis, cancer, heart disease, and pneumonia to be diagnosed at an early stage when the cure will be effective and rapid. The presence of a speck on a film lin square discloses hitherto unsuspected tUberCUIOSiS. . . . r. So successful is the Royal Air Force pioneer work that a country-wide system to give every member of the nation a free X-ray examination of the chest will soon be launched. The incidence of tuberculosis in the Royal Air Force has noticeably declined since the inception of the scheme.