TWO “FIRSTS” IN AIR WAR IN WEST

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 106, 29 January 1943, Page 5

TWO “FIRSTS” IN AIR WAR IN WEST

Copenhagen Raided

AMERICANS BOMB WILHELMSHAVEN

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, January 27, United States Flying Fortresses aud Liberators attacked Wilhelmshaven in daylight today. This is the first time that American aircraft have raided Germany. Later today the Royal Air Force made its first raid on Copenhagen since the occupation of Denmark by the Germans. The raid was carried out by Mosquito aircraft, the superfast light bombers. Copenhagen has been turning out Diesel engines for Germany, many of which go into the U-boats fleet. The Victoria Cross winner, Wing Commander Edwards, led Mosquitoes in f the raid on the Copenhagen shipyards. The pilots flew so low that they had to dodge chimneys and church spires. Intense anti-aircraft fire was encountered over the target, but there was no enemy fighter opposition. Hits were scored on Diesel engine sheds, from which flames rose 100 feet in the air.

The Flying Fortresses made a largescale attack on the naval base at Wilhelmshaven, while the Liberators bombed other targets in north-west Germany. The Fortresses, which were not escorted, encountered enemy fighters, a number of which were destroyed. Three of the bombers are missing. Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, leader of the R.A.l'. Bomber Command, in a message of congratulation to Brigadier-General -Longfellow, commander of the Eighth United States Bomber Command, said: ‘To the Germans it is yet another ominous sentence in the writing on the wall, the full import of which they cannot fail to notice. To the Bomber Command it is a concrete and most welcome relief. We shall no longer be alone in carrying the wa? to German soil.” The R.A.F. heavily raided Trondheim, western Norway, in daylight yesterday, according to messages received from the border, savs the Stockholm correspondent of the British United Press. Waves ot bombers passed over the town for more than six hours, concentrating on the harbour area. The explosions shook window* 60 miles awav.