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BOMBER SWARM

Pounds German Oil Plants BITTER DEFENCE (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received May 13, 7 p.m.) LONDON, Maj’ 12. For the 34th successive day the air over the south-east coast vibrated from the roar of swarms of Allied bombers and fighters streaming out almost without a break, maintaining the pounding of the enemy’s airfields in France and oil supplies in Czechoslovakia and Germany. After Lancasters and Halifaxes had swamped the railyards at Louvain and Boulogne, daylight forces took up the deadly sequence at the crack of dawn. A “Dailj’ Express” reporter this morning dangled a tumbler ovei the cliffs of Dover. A blockbuster exploding between Cap Grisnez and Boulogne shattered it. One correspondent says that terrific crashes could be heard on the fat side of the Channel. He says: “All doors and windows are open here again as a safeguard against the heavy vibrations,” An official statement says: "Four major* synthetic oil plants in the-Leipzig area of Germany, and one at Brux, in the former Czechoslovakia, were attacked today by very strong forces of Fortresses and Liberators. Other targets in Germany were also bombed. Equally great forces of Thunderbolts, Lightnings and Mustangs provided escort and support. The targets in Germany included the big Leuna oil plant at Mersburg, lb miles west of Leipzig, and other Plants at Lutzendorf, 14 miles south ot Halle, Bohlen, just outside Leipzig, and Seitz, 25 miles south-west of Leipzig. An official United States communique says that at least I'so enemy planes were destroyed. The American losses wer e bombers and ten fighters. Up to 1009 bombers, escorted by a comparable force of fighters, took part. To get to their targets, the crews had to fight what a correspondent has’called one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles in the air war. ■ In a desperate attempt to defend the oil on which the German war machine depends, the Luftwaffe turned loose nearly 1000 fighters. Four separate groups of bombers report that they were attacked on all sides by up to 250 enemy planes, which hurtled out of the sun in groups of up to 30 at a time, and the ground barrage of flak filled the sky with black clouds. ' Berlin radio, describing the day s air activity, said, “The American attack wds one of the most widespread and most dramatic so far, but the raiders suffered a remarkable defeat.” The British, American, and other Allied air forces, excluding Russian, have shot down about 26,000 German and Italian aircraft since the beginning of the war, stated Sir Archibald Sinclair in the House of Commons. He added that figures could not be given of aeroplanes destroyed on the ground-. ’ , , Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent, quoting the “Svenska Dagbladet, reports that a mystery German plane which crashed near Kivik, in Sweden, yesterday had no crew, was radio-controlled, anil carried two magnetic mines.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19440515.2.56

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 194, 15 May 1944, Page 5

Word count
Tapeke kupu
471

BOMBER SWARM Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 194, 15 May 1944, Page 5

BOMBER SWARM Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 194, 15 May 1944, Page 5

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