BIGGEST R.A.F. DAY RAID

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 20, 19 October 1942, Page 5

BIGGEST R.A.F. DAY RAID

French “Krupps” Hit

LONDON, October 1 8

Heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force yesterday carried out the biggest daylight attack of the war, when a large force of Lancasters bombed the vast Schneider-Creusot works—the French equivalent of Krupps’ of Essen —at le Creusot, 170 miles southeast of Paris. The bombers flew without escort to the target over JOO miles of German-occupied territory, yet the raid was not only the biggest, but also the least costly, as only one bomber failed to return. The bombers went over the target singly from 6 p.m., with perfect timing.

The Le Cruesot arms works cover 287 acres and are the largest and most important of the international Schneider cartel. They had been making German pattern guns of very heavy calibre and, also locomotives, machine tools, and armour-plate. The Germans during the Battle of France avoided bombing the works. The Air Ministry says that Le Creusot has no features or landmarks for night navigation, and the town is small and congested, so a night attack would have inflicted, great losses on the French civilian population. Mustangs Again. LONDON, October 17. The Air Ministry states that this afternoon Mustangs of the Army Cooperation Command attacked goods trains and other targets in Holland, and Spitfires of the Fighter Command attacked objectives in nothern France. All our planes returned. Hudson aircraft of the Coastal Command without loss attacked shipping off the French coast last night. A ship was hit, and this morning was seen to be wrecked and aground. • The attacking aircraft belonged to a Netherlands air service squadron. Flying over the Channel this afternoon, two New Zealand pilots of the Fighter Command saw bombs drop on the south-east coast. A few moments later they spotted two Focke-Wulfs racing for home low down over the sea, and they concentrated on one and shot it down in the Channel after a 10-mile pursuit. Some casualties and damage were caused by enemy -raiders over coastal districts in the north-east of England last night. An enemy plane was shot

down off the south coast early this morning. Four Focke-Wulfs, attacking a village in south-west England yesterday morning, machinegunned the playground at a children’s school and injured some of the children. They also dropped bombs. Two of the planes were.shot down. A villager said the Focke-Wulfs came very low and apparently deliberately machinegunned the toddlers in the school ground. The majority were infants. Four were sent to hospital. The village suffered very little damage.

DAMAGE IN REICH “Extraordinarily Heavy,” Says Nazi Officer (Received October 18, 7 p.m.) LONDON, October 17. The Luftwaffe spokesman, Major Waif gang Blei, broadcasting from Berlin radio, said, “The damage which the enemy is doing by bombing in Germany cannot be denied; it is extraordinarily heavy; but compared with the total property the damage is smaller than the enemy thinks. “The damage would be far greater if the enemy directed his attacks against the military front. The Germans’ labour power is neither destroyed nor disturbed. The enemy cannot ■reach the German • labour power, and therefore cannot win the war. The war can be won. only on the military field. The Luftwaffe could answer every (British blow with harder blows, which the British, for all their tenacity, would be unable to endure.”