BERLIN’S BIGGEST DAY RAID

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 228, 23 June 1944, Page 5

BERLIN’S BIGGEST DAY RAID

U.S. Bombers Go On To Soviet Base R.A.F. FOLLOWS WITH BLOW AT RUHR

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Received June 22, 11.30 p.m,)

LONDON, June 22. More than 10(H) Flying Fortresses and Liberators of the United States Eighth Air Force, escorted by up to 1000 fighters, yesterday attacked targets in Berlin and Basdorf, on the outskirts of Berlin. It was the war’s biggest dayliglit raid against the German capital. Incomplete reports show that 43 bombers and 15 fighters are missing. The escorting fighters reported destroying 21 enemy planes and the bombers are estimated to have destroyed 15 to 20 enemy planes. Lancasters of the R.A.F. last night made heavy attacks over the Ruhr and Rhineland. Mosquitoes bombed Berlin, and mine-layers were out. Fortysix planes are missing. Moscow radio /says that bombers from Britain landed in Russia after'the first shuttle-bombing operation against targets in Germany and eastern Europe. Another report says that Fortresses in a shuttle-bombing mission attacked targets in central Germany. _ .The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says the armada was larger than the entire bombing forces the Eighth Air Force was able to put into the air a little over a year ago. Showered with Flowers.

Russian girls showered the flyers with flowers. The bombers attacked Berlin and Brunswick, and on the last stage of their flight were joined by Russian fighters. An Associated Press correspondent at a United States air base somewhere in the Soviet Union, says that American fighters escorted the Eighth Air Force heavy bombers when they arrived from Britain. The Russian and American ground crews, which are now working in harmony, were the first to welcome the bombers to Russia. A bomber officer, in a preliminary summing up of the results ot the operation, stated that great damage was done to the enmy’s war industrial objectives. Heavy explosions were observed in the target area and the smoke from the fires rose to 8000 feet. Americans made the first shuttle trip, from Italy to Russia, on June 2. Berlin radio described yesterday morning’s raid as a terror attack directed • exclusively against th? civil population. It added: “The raid will in due course be avenged by a bigger and more powerful explosive than the present new weapon being used against England.” Railway yards, factories and military objectives were attacked yesterday, in‘ eluding the Foeke-’Wulf engine works on the outskirts of Berlin. It was the first time Thunderbolts have been over Berlin. Mustangs fought running battles with German aircraft, including twin-engined rocket planes, as far as the Polish frontier. A Stockholm report says that at least 12 American aircraft made forced landings in southern Sweden. BATTLE OF BASES Bomb-launching Sites Described (British Official Wireless.) (Received June 22, 7 p.m.) RUGBY, Jnne 21. The commander of the Ninth Air Force, General Brereton, stated today that reconnaissance has now made it possible to describe the launching sites of the flying bombs in some detail. The main part is an oblong concrete platform pointed toward England and camouflaged with paint. From this the flying bombs are launched. There are other buildings adjacent to the platform, used possibly for storage for the final stages of assembly of the bomb. The largest of these buildings is in the shape of an ice-hockey stick. There is an elbow, and one of the extending parts is about twice the length of the other. The launching sites are very hard to see and hit. Mostly they are in or at the edge of a wood or orchard, and have the advantage of 'both natural and artificial camouflage. The platforms and buildings are low, and come under the shelter of the trees. Some are in buildings made to resemble farm-houses. The briefing officers have told the crews setting out to bomb the launching sites that only actual hits will damage the installations ; “near misses” are not good enough. Six Months’ Race. Most of the bases are in the Pas de 'Calais, in a line running from St. Omer to Abbeville, and all lire inland 15 to 20 miles. The platforms are not in clusters, but are widely separated, usually in unpopulated areas. Since November, when the attacks against flying-bomb bases were started, it has been a race between the amount of damage the attacking bombers could do and the amount of rebuilding the Germans were able to complete. A site would often be hit while it was being built: the Germans would repair it, and Allied bombers would be back before the Germans finished their work. Strong anti-aircraft batteries surrounded every flying-bomb base. Attacks by the Ninth Air Force had been made in the face of some of the most violent flak barrages over Europe. Twenty-six Marauders and 11 Havocs were lost in the entire campaign against flying-bomb bases. The Marauders and Havocs in the past six months have made over 7000 sorties and dropped almost 11,000 tons of bombs on the sites.