EYE FOR AN EYE

Evening Star, Issue 23679, 12 September 1940, Page 9

EYE FOR AN EYE

CENTRE OF BERLIN BOMBED POTSDAM STATION DAMAGED REICHSTAG BUILDING STRUCK MOST INTENSIVE RAID OF WAR Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, September 11. The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press says that bombs were seen falling in the centre of Berlin during an air raid alarm which lasted from 11.55 p.m. till 1.47 a.m. It is believed that the raid was the most intense Berlin has yet undergone. One bomb crashed through a house next to the United States Embassy, only 100yds from Wilhelm Plate. An incendiary bomb fell near the United States Embassy, and two others in the middle of the Unter den Linden, immediately in front of the Brandenburg gate. The embassy was not damaged. The first bomb lit up the famous gate like daylight. The windows of nearby offices rattled, and blue smoke rolled up from the Unter den Linden. A high-explosive bomb fell 100yds from the former French Embassy, sending plumes of smoke and sparks 75yds. The raiders circled the centre of the capital nt a low altitude for at least 30 minutes, and dropped sis parachute flares. An official German communique states that bombs struck the Art Academy in the heart of the city, the premises of the German Engineers’ Union, Hedwig’s Hospital, and residential and business property. POTSDAM STATION HIT The Potsdam Railway Station, in the heart of Berlin, was heavily bombed by the Royal Air Force last night. An Air Ministry communique states that British planes scored direct hits with heavy bombs on the railway station, and a numffer of incendiary bombs caused numerous fires. The Potsdam Station is one of the main termini in Berlin, and from it most of the trains leave for the southwest. The force of bombers delivered its attack with great accuracy, and all the pilots claim direct hits on the station and yards. As incendiaries followed the heavy bombs large fires broke out all over the target area. The bombers made for home after releasing their bombs The Berlin correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says the Reichstag building was struck by an incendiary bomb dur-ing-the Royal Air Force raid. GERMAN VERSION OF RAID. On this occasion the damage is so obvious that the German News Agency has been forced to make some mention of it, but it confines its statement to the damage to non-military objectives. It reports that bombs were dropped on hospitals, hotels, Government buildings, and residential quarters. A number of works of art were also destroyed. As a result of the attack five people were killed and several injured. Not a word was said about the raid on the Potsdam Station. The statement finishes on a rather plaintive note. Germany, it is stated', did not want this war, but England had got the war she wanted and was feeling the might of German air power. American correspondents give a similar report to that contained in the German News Agency’s statement. They would not have been allowed to get fuller details past the Berlin censor. They state that the raid lasted from 11.55 to 1.47, and they describe how the British raiders flew • low over the city, avoiding the anti-aircraft fire. Last night’s raid over Berlin is the headline news in London and American newspapers,' and takes marked precedence over reports of last night’s raid on London, which was less severe than on the previous nights. [The Reichstag building has not been used for meetings of the Reichstag since it was more or less destroyed internally by the fire of February 23, 1937, which the Nazis almost certainly produced and then exploited against the Communists, ensuring their return as the strongest party in the elections of that year. The building has remained ever since in its damaged state, though it has been used for Nazi exhibitions and like purposes.] OTHER R.A.F. RAIDS HARBOUR CONCENTRATIONS BOMBED LONDON, September 11. (Received September 12, at 12.25 p.m.) The Air Ministry stated that besides Potsdam station the R.A.F. last night bombed Bremen and Wilhelmshaven and vast concentrations in harbours on the French, Belgian, and Dutch coasts, also gun emplacements at Cap Gris Nez, railway targets at St. Duisberg and Brussels, and aerodromes in Germany and German-occupied territory. Four of our planes have not returned. The Air Ministry news service says the R.A.F. repeatedly hit Potsdam station with heavy bombs and several hundred incendiary bombs. The pilots of all machines claimed several direct hits on the station and yards. Several planes attacked by gliding through the anti-aircraft barrage. Fires broke out as showers of incendiary bombs fell. One fire was particularly large and there were several smaller ones. The raiders left for homo after releasing all their bombs. The German News Agency admits that a 151 b incendiary bomb fell 10ft from Dr Gocbbels’s residence in Berlin, tearing a deep hole in the garden.

BRITISH PENETRATION BOMBS NEAR GOVERNMENT OFFICES LONDON, September 11. (Received September 12, at 12.5 p.m.) 1 , While London was receiving its nightly dose of German air brutality, Berlin, according to neutral correspondents, was given a strong taste of its own' medicine when the R.A.F. penetrated the capital’s defences and bombed Central Berlin. A thermite bomb crashed through the roof the Reichstag and smouldered in the hall before it was extinguished. The Reichstag is not used at present, and is still undergoing reconstruction alter the 1933 fire. Other bombs fell in this district* which contains the Government offices. Incendiaries peppered the area around the United States Embassy, near which a 500-pounder fell. A high-explosive bomb dropped near the Ministry of the Interior, smashing the ground floor windows in the building occupied by. the American News Service. A heavy bomb landed in the centre of the Avenue of Splendour, which is Hitler’* particular pride. GERMAN OFFICIALS NOT SO COCKSURE NOW LONDON, September 11. (Received September 12, at 10.55 a.m.)] Reuter’s Bucharest correspondent interviewed a traveller, who stated that 500 people had been killed by bomba in Germany. The traveller declared that German officials had already begun to despair about the issue of the war. Their attitude had altered from extreme cocksureness and arrogance to anxiety and uncertainty. The Berlin radio stated that a delayed action bomb in the grounds of the United States Embassy cannot be removed, and will destroy not only the Embassy, but other important buildings if it explodes. The police have closed several streets in Berlin because of the fear of time bombs. THE ENEMY COMMUNIQUE HIT ON REICHSTAG ADMITTED SMALL DAMAGE CLAIMED BERLIN, September 11. (Received September 12, at noon.) A communique states: Last night th* enemy bombed various localities in North France, Belgium, and Northern Germany. They caused little damage. A few enemy planes succeeded in reaching Berlin and dropping bombs there. Numerous fires broke out in residential and business quarters. In tho centra of the town two hospitals were hit and a few streets had temporarily to ba evacuated in the diplomatic quarter owing to the danger of collapse of tha buildings. One fell on the Reichstag Building, another on the Academy of Art. Five civilians were killed and several injured. The security and auxiliary services, by energetic action together with members of the civil population, prevented numerous incendiary bombs from doing great damage. Installations of military importance in London remained the chief target of Germany’s reprisal attacks. Numerous fires were added to those already existing. We also bombed other military objectives, especially harbour installations, aerodromes, and industrial plant! in south-east England. A German bomber sank a convoyed 8,000-ton British merchantman south* ward of the Hebrides.