MOONLIGHT RAID Objectives in Berlin A GERMAN REPORT WHERE U.S. STANDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 93, 16 October 1940, Page 9

MOONLIGHT RAID

Objectives in Berlin

A GERMAN REPORT

WHERE U.S. STANDS

WELL-AIMED MISSILES

(British Official Wireless.) (Received October 16, 11.20 a.m.) RUGBY, October 15. For nearly an hour and a quarter last night British raiders flew over Berlin, seeking out and attacking a number of military objectives both in the suburbs and in the heart of the capital. An Air Ministry bulletin states that a slight haze lay over the city when, shortly after 2 a.m., the first raiders penetrated the outer ring of Berlin's powerful defences and circled high over the capital. A hunter's moon which helped the raiders on their 600-mile flight from Erngland lit up the sprawling city.

The large gasworks in the Dan- and the occupied territory. Several zigerstrasse, two and three-quarter im P°rtant military objectives in Berlin miles from the centre of the city was Were , eflfectively bombed. Attacks miles norn tne centre ot me city, was were also made on oil lants at gtet _ quickly located, and a well-aimed tin, Madgeburg, and Meishburg. The stick of bombs of heavy calibre attack on Stettin was particularly effecstarted several fires, which soon tiv.f: j?ainpd in intprmitv A stron £ force of bombers attacked gained in intensity. Le Havre, where, from the fires and A tew minutes later the lempl«- explosions which resulted, it is estihof railway yards close to the main mated that considerable damage was airport of Berlin had been identified "°, nj:: and bombed by a second raider. v °*h*rJ£ Craft) which ' °wing *° ad" } verse weather, were unable to locate their primary targets, bombed the .docks at Hamburg, Emden, and Den iHelder, and railway communications (at Gottingen, Lingen, and Hanover, bedsides several factories and aerodromes. "From these extensive operations and fffrom patrols undertaken in daylight yesterday by the Coastal Command tfour of our aircraft have not reported to their base."

The crew of this aircraft reported that after their own attack they saw a great fire raging four or five miles to the north in the approximate position of the Danzigerstrasse gasworks.

Other raiders concentrated their attack on military objectives in the centre of the city. Several tons of heavy-calibre high-explosive bombs and quantities of small fire bombs were unloaded on the targets, and at one stage of the raid other explosions and fires could be seen simultaneously in several parts of the target area. A direct hit with a heavy bomb was also scored on a railway siding near; the Lehrte station, about a mile from the Brandenburger Tor. EFFECTIVE BOMBING. An Air Ministry communique states: "Last night our bombers again struck at Berlin and other targets in Germany

AUTHENTIC NOTICE

BRITISH PRESS COMMENT

PRESIDENT'S SPEECH

(Received October 16, 11.10 a.m.)

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, October 14.

President Roosevelt's broadcast on Saturday, following closely on recent declarations by Mr. Wendell Willkie, the Republican Presidential candidate, has given what the Press here feels is an authentic notice, in unmistakable terms, of where the United States stands on the great moral issues which took Britain into the war against Hitlerism, and where the American people will continue to stand till all danger to the ideals of freedom, justice, and neighbourliness among nations is overthrown.

! LONDON, October 15. | The German news agency says that few of the British planes which flew over Northern Germany reached Berilinj They bombed houses and a hospital and 12 persons were injured. The remaining planes were driven off and throe were shot down.

of Australia wish it to be. Australia's first line of defence is necessarily naval. With the assurance that the Uniteid States is vitally interested in the Ipacific, we can deploy our full strength where it can be used to the greatest advantage."

The "Daily Telegraph" hails the speech as the most forthright answer yet given to the Axis-Japanese pact. "The President has restated the country's intentions with new emphasis," it says. "He placed the widest possible interpretation upon its policy of defending the Western Hemisphere against acis of aggression, reminding all wnom it may concern that not merely the territories of the American continent and its adjacent islands are guaranteed by that policy, but also 'the peaceful .use of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans"—the traditional principle of American diplomacy which has been ignored before with disastrous results to the challenger. AS PLAIN AS CAN BE. I "With this President Roosevelt combines a perfectly clear assurance upon the matter which more nearly concerns Britain and those peoples who in any way are able to act with her as combatants. 'No combination of dictator countries of Europe and Asia,' said President Roosevelt, 'will prevent the help we are giving to almost the last free people fighting to hold them at. bay.' That is as plain as words can^ make it." j "The Times" says: "President Roosevelt's broadcast left no doubt where the United States stands and how it regards the pact. On the eve of a bitterly-contested election the President could not have spoken as he did in this vigorous and uncompromising pronouncement if he had not been speaking for the great majority in the country." The same point is made by the "Daily Herald," which writes: "Whoever wins, the pledge to help Britain stands. Mr. Willkie sees his duty as clearly as President Roosevelt."

The President's answer to the Axis threats has evoked admiring comment in other parts of the Empire. The Melbourne "Argus" says: "The President's bluntness is welcomed throughout the Empire. He explicitly pledged '.:he United States to give protection to the entire Western Hemisphere. The President's words mean that we will not be left solely to our own devices if menaced from the north. The corollary of this is that our participation in the Empire's struggle can be as full and wholehearted as the people