RAID STRATEGY OF ALLIES

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 202, 24 May 1944, Page 7

RAID STRATEGY OF ALLIES

Great New Onslaughts ANGLO-AMERICAN PLANES OUT DAY AND NIGHT

(jjy Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Received May 23, 7 p.m.) LONDON, May 22.

The “Daily Mail's” aviation correspondent says it appears that nearly 2000 fighters took part in the fighter sweep yesterday. The Allies’ sole object has been to reach military targets on the ground, like artillery firing at an enormous range. lhe whole picture makes an obvious repetition of the operation strangle preceding the latest land campaign in Italy. . , One of the most remarkable features of the latest turn in, the west is the complete lack of enemy reaction against Britain 1 here is no record of a single enemy plane crossing the English Channel in daylight this month, and only five were reported over Britain in daylight during April. The enemy at this critical juncture has been forced to rely for aerial reconnaissance entirely on spy planes staying some miles off-shore.

The Air Ministry stated that Spitfire and Typhoon fighters and fighterbombers which resumed the blitz against transport and military targets on the Continent again surprised the Luftwaffe. Canadians shot down at least six enemy planes before dark. Six British Spitfire pilots detailed for weather reconnaissance also attacked military targets and damaged four goods trains, one military lorry and four barges. This afternoon Marauders attacked military objectives in northern France, including an airfield at Beaumont le Roger. They were escorted by Thunderbolts and Lightnings. No planes are missing. There was no flak and no fighter opposition was encountered. Liberators attacked enemy installations in the Pas de Calais area, but met no opposition. Five bombers and eight fighters have not returned. Liberators attacked enemy installations in the Pas de Calais area, but met no opposition. Five bombers and eight fighters have not returned. Search for Enemy Fighters.

Hundreds of United States and R.A.F. ■bombers and fighters continued the attack against the Continent this evening, streaming out and returning without a pause for three hours. Fighter-bombers again attacked enemy airfields and railway targets in northern France and Belgium early this evening. Many sorties were flown in a deliberate but fruitless search for enemy fighters. Flying through intense flak. Typhoon fighter-bombers and Spitfire fighters attacked over half-a-dozen German naval vessels off Cape Frehel, near .St. Malo, last evening. Most of the ships were minesweepers, and the Spitfires set three of them on fire. One Typhoon is missing. There was slight enemy activity last night over parts of north and northern Scotland, and south-east England. Bombs were dropped at one point in Kent. There was little damage, but some casualties.

Twenty-five Hundred More Planes Out

LONDON, May 23. Aircraft of Bomber Command more than 1000 strong last, night attacked the German cities of Dortmund and Brunswick and also Orleans and Le Mans jn France. Mosquitoes attacked Ludwigshaven in south’Western Germany, and there was a big mine-laying programme. . Thirty-five of the attacking force are missing. - - f _ The weather over Dortmund was clear and the pathfinders did a good job. The bombing was concentrated and good re»ults are reported. The Germans tried all they could to break up the bomber formations, but without much success. Dortmund is closely linked with Duisburg, which was the main target for the R.A-F. on Sunday night. Over Brunswick, low cloud made observation of the results difficult. There were scores of night-fighters over Dortmund and Brunswick and. according to the Germans, air battles began about

midnight and two hours and a half later were still continuing. More than 50P American heavy bombers attacked enemy aerodromes ano marshalling yards in France this morning. They had an escort of more than 1000 fighters. . The Germans report heavy air battles over south-eastern France and Belgium. German aircraft dropped bombs on several places on the south coast of England and East Anglia last night, six raiders 'being destroyed. Swarms of fighters came up to detend Duisberg in the earlier attack when a strong force of Lancasters dropped well over 2000 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs. The crews reported the use of a new type of “rocket flares. According to some of our crews, they travelled across the sky horizontally, burning out in an explosion. 'The flares moved across the sky,” said the bombaimer in a Lancaster. “They dropped from various heights, and did not appear to be attached to parachutes. One, flowing with an orange.light, fell some distance away, and moved toward us before dropping several thousand feet and exploding.” , A U.S. Army Air Force communique States that Fortresses, under an escort of Mustangs, Thunderbolts and . Lightnings, attacked targets in the vicinity of the German naval base at Kiel yesterday morning and also submarine construction yards. The fighters reported the destruction of 22 German fighters over their own airfields.

German Railways Said To

Be Largely Intact (Received May 23, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 23. , Germany’s vast network of communications is still largely intact, in spite of heavy bombings, according to the Associated Press correspondent, Larry Allen, who has arrived at Barcelona, after eight months’ imprisonment in Germany. “There is in ail heavily-bombed German cities considerable destruction of factories and residential districts, but all the way from the Polish Corridor to Marseilles I did not see a single railway station destroyed or seriously damaged,” said Mr. Allen. At Fortlitz, Dresden, Posen, Karlsruhe, Munich, Stuttgart, and other points through which I passed. I saw as many as 52 passenger trains roll through the stations daily. The German communication system appears to be, if anything, better organized than when I saw it eight months ago. “One of Germany's great railway terminals for moving troops to the eastern front is Posen. It was raided several times by the .Americans, but there was not a single pane of glass broken at the railway station and not a single line blown up. Germany has 12,000,000 foreign workers behind her machine and is thus able to clear up bomb-damage quickly and get war factories working very soon. “Sabotage in Germany is practically non-existent, while Polish resistance is purely underground,'but when the Allies strike at France I believe there will be a great uprising of morale. The German people under heavy bombing are holding up well, but they are tired and sick of the war.”