AIR ATTACKS ON GERMANY

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23975, 16 June 1943, Page 3

AIR ATTACKS ON GERMANY

TARGETS IN WESTERN RUHR A FEW RAIDERS OVER BRITAIN (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, June 15. “Royal Air Force heavy bombers last night attacked targets in the western Ruhr, particularly Oberhausen,” says an Air Ministry communique. “Large fires were seen, but clouds made it difficult to observe the results fully. Mines were also laid in enemy waters. “Eighteen of our bombers are missing.” The communique adds that Royal Air Force intruders during the night destroyed two enemy aircraft. Three Focke Wulfs were shot down and three damaged by Spitfires over northern France this morning. A few enemy raiders came over south-east England last night. Some reached London, which had two alerts. Slight damage is reported, and at one place in the London area a few persons were killed. In their first real anti-personnel raid enemy bombers on Sunday night over an east coast town dropped many hundreds of nine-inch “rattle” bombs, designed to prevent civil defence workers doing their work. An A.R.P. controller said that these bombs splintered into hundreds of small pieces and pierced windows and doors with holes the size of bullets. They were called rattle bombs because they resembled a child’s rattle. The raid is considered an attempt by the Luftwaffe to cause the greatest moral and material damage with the smallest number of aeroplanes. UNITED NATIONS’ DAY IMPRESSIVE PARADE IN LONDON CELEBRATION BY 27 COUNTRIES LONDON, Juno 14. Twenty-seven countries celebrated United Nations’ Day with a display of flags and other ceremonies symbolising the unity of the Allies in their determination to press the war against the Axis. ' An imposing parade in London marched past a saluting base, on which were the flags and representatives of the United Nations. The parade was representative of the Navy, Army, Air Force, the Merchant Navy, the Dominion and Indian forces, the Home Guard, the Civil Defence Services, and war workers. In Cairn 5000 Allied troops and mechanised units paraded through the city. Empire servicemen included British, Navy, Army, and Royal Air Force personnel, New Zealanders, South Africans, Canadians, Australians, Indians, and Cingalese. The concourse which gathered in London to-day to cheer the cavalcade of Empire is stated to have been the largest since the outbreak of war. General Sir Bernard Paget, Command-cr-in-Chief of the Home Forces, who was accompanied by General Sir Arthur Smith, General Officer Commanding the London area, took the salute at the foot of the Duke of York’s steps. Before him were 27 Irish Guardsmen, bearing the flags of the Allied nations. On either side of the dais were foreign military, naval, and air attaches, and representatives of the Navy, the Air Force, the High Command, and the United States forces, including MajorGeneral I. C. Eaker, the United States air chief. A fanfare by trumpeters of the Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards was the signal for Genera! Paget and all present to salute the flags. The civil defence services, with the fire forces, headed the cavalcade, and they were followed by war workers. The first services detachment was the Royal Navy. It was followed by the Royal Air Force and men from the Empire, preceded by the flags of the Dominions. Later came the Home Guard and British Army contingents, then units of the Wrens, the W.A.A.F.s, the A.T.S., V.A.D.s, and the nursing services. When British and Dominion units marched along Princes street in Edinburgh in Scotland’s celebrations, the flags of the United States, Russia, and China were given places of honour. , . . . Fiji’s position on the one hundred and eightieth meridian gave the colony the honour of being the first to celebrate United Nations’ Day. From a stand in the centre of Suva, the Governor and the United States commanding general took the salute. Troops bearing the flags of the United Nation? headed the march. Then came representatives of all the services, the Emergency Reserve Corps, the civil defence and patriotic organisations, and representatives of the armed forces of the United States, New Zealand and Fiii. A United States officer led the whole parade, which was one of the largest and most impressive held in Suva for many years Commenting on the day, the Moscow radio said: “The utter rout of the Hitlerite army and the unconditional surrender of Hitlerite Germany is on the agenda. The rapid capitulation of the Italians on Pantellena and Lampedusa under the impact of Allied blows is a sign of the’times. WHIT MONDAY HOLIDAY OBSERVED IN BRITAIN LONDON, June 14. Most of Britain took a day off from war work and spent Whit Monday m the traditional, carefree atmosphere—within the bounds prescribed by travel and other restrictions. One hundred thousand watched the great United Nations’ Day parade and then thronged the parks, cinemas and restaurants. Various London boroughs provided galas as part of the nation-wide policy to make holidays at home attractive. East Enders staged their traditional trek to the West End, exploring famous streets which they do not see from year to year. There were no extra so it was generally a “stay at home” holiday throughout the country. Loud speakers at Waterloo endlessly warned would-be travellers to go home. The police made sure that motor-cars were not used for Ascot racegoers, for which reason every form of horse-drawn vehicle was pressed into service, including farm carts, barouches and coaches which had not been seen for 20 years. Thousands walked miles to the course, where an enormous crowd gathered. The roads from London were packed with hikers and. a cyclists’ trek to Epping Forest began soon after midnight. The vast majority of people had to make their own fun, but Britain generally will return to work to-mor-row refreshed. Work for Russian Children.—Six million school children from Russian towns will work on collective farms during their holidays. A large number of children in small villages will also do farm work. Many of them will cultivate their own school grounds. In the Moscow region 20,000 children will work in repair shops and workshops, repairing school equipment and their own footwear and clothes.—London. June 14.