BIG NIGHT’S WORK

Evening Star, Issue 23691, 26 September 1940, Page 9

BIG NIGHT’S WORK

R.A.F, OPERATIONS DEADLY ATTACKS WITH WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTION (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 25. (Received September 26, at noon.) In extensive R.A.F. operations against the enemy on Tuesday night, which included a long raid on Berlin, details of which are already known, as well as continuation of the systematic attacks of recent nights on enemy invasion ports, only two of the aircraft employed were lost. Fiukenheer’s electric power station near Frankfurt-on-Oder, more than 300 miles from Germany’s western frontier, was located half an hour before midnight, and twice attacked with sticks of high-explosive bombs, which were seen to burst in and around the target. The main railway line near Magdeburg and the rail depot and distributing centre at Hamm were also attacked, and a number of explosions on the main sidings and sheds at Hamm were followed by a line of fires.

Goods yards at Brussels were also attacked, the Hanover aerodrome was bombed from a high level, and at The Hague, to the north of Emden, where night flying by the enemy was in progress, a British raider came down to 2,000 ft to drop*his bombs on a hangar and runway. The flare revealed the wreckage of a hangar destroyed by the previous attack. While the long-distance raids on Germany were in progress, other strong forces of bombers, operating at short range, kept up their nightly hammering of the enemy’s invasion ports from Hamburg to Le Havre. Fires were started at Hamburg docks. Bombs straddled the shipping bases at Cherbourg and at the Dutch port of Delfzijl. At Ostend repeated hits were scored on the basins and on the harbour jetties. ,

Calais docks were the target for one of the night’s heaviest bombardments. They were subjected to a scries of attacks lasting for nearly seven hours. Barges lying alongside the quays were hit and fires and explosions were seen in many parts of the harbour. Before 4 o’clock on Wednesday morning more than 30 fires wore counted burning within the docks.

. At Le Havre the raids began at 10 p.m. and continued at intervals until 5 o’clock on Wednesday. The lock gates were hit, warehouses set alight, and many other fires started. A violent explosion marked a direct hit on what peared to be the harbour power station. '’Strong opposition from the ground defences was encountered at Boulogne. Direct hits were claimed here on the wall of one dock and on jetties between basins and in many parts of the outer harbour. A particularly big explosion, followed by fire, was seen to occur in No. 7 dock. i The German long-range gun positions at Cap Gris Nez were also attacked shortly before dawn, and numbers of hits registered on the new emplacements under construction. BERLIN BOMBED AGAIN IMPORTANT TARGETS SELECTED (British Official Wirelesa.) RUGBY, September 25. (Received September 26, at 10.10 a.m.) A number of military objectives in the heart of Berlin were singled out and attacked on Tuesday night, when R.A.F. heavy bombers for the second nigtit in succession carried the war into the German capital in a raid lasting two and a-half hours. The raid began shortly after 10.30, says an Air Ministry bulletin, when the first attacker, evading an intense barrage from the city’s ground defences, located and bombed the great Siemens and Halse factories, which produce a largo proportion of the electrical equipment used by the German armed forces. Great fires were seen to break out in the target area after the bombing. Berlin’s electric power transformer and switching station at Friedcrichsuelde, which supplies most of the city’s industrial current, was attacked at 1 a.m. to-day. Sticks of high explosive bombs were seen to burst across the plant. A blast furnace in the south-east suburbs was struck, causing large fires. Two sticks were droppped across the canal bridge, two miles south-west of Berlin’s main airport at Tempclhof. OFFICIAL GERMAN ACCOUNT BERLIN, September 25. (Received September 26, at 9.45 a.m.) It is officially stated that a number of British planes again attempted to attack Berlin last night. Strong antiaircraft fire prevented the attackers from aiming their bombs, most of which fell in open country. Several dwellings were hit in various suburbs, causing casualties among the population. Incendiaries fell on a hospital. Energetic safety measures prevented damage. Further details of the extent of the damage cannot yet be given. The radio slated; “ The British again attempted last night organised murder on Berlin’s civil population. Single planes reached the inner area, bombing the densely inhabited .working class districts and hospitals marked with the Red Cross. The murderous pilots, carrying out Mr Churchill's orders, did not hit military objectives. This infamy the Luftwaffe is answering with all the means at its disposal.”

BERLIN GASWORKS SELECTED AS SPECIAL TARGET fi.A.F. PILOT'S EXPERIENCES DIRECT KIT CAUSES GREAT EXPLOSION (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 24. Broadcasting on Tuesday night a 21-ycar-old bomber pilot of the R.A.F. described his experiences in last night s raids in and around Berlin. He blew up part of the gasworks in a northeast district of the city. He said: “This is my twenty-fifth raid over Germany, and it was about the most successful, of the whole 25. Our squadron bad been in Berlin before. but I hadn’t. They had sent me j to Hamm instead, and my crew were a bit fed up about that. Wo were told about 5 o’clock yesterday that the Berlin show was on, and we knew it was going to be on a pretty largo scale. Our particular target was the largest gasworks to the north-east of Berlin, about four or five miles from the centre of the city. There is a railway running right alongside it, with a large, open space to the east, and a lake about a mile north-west of it. Those weio our three landmarks. IDEAL CONDITIONS. “ As we neared Berlin, cloud beneath us closed up, and over the city itself was quite clear, in fact the conditions were pretty well ideal for night bombing. The trip out was entirely without incident, and we were absolutely on the course, because through gaps in the cloud we were able to pinpoint ourselves on a number of places along the route. There was some gunfire round towns to the south of the course, but nobody bothered us. The first sign of any real activity came os we. approached Berlin. We got within 20 miles of it, and suddenly fire flares appeared in the sky. They were being dropped by other bombers that got there before us. No sooner had that happened than up went a barrage. As we got nearer the number of flares increased. I counted 10, but as we were coming away after the bombing there was well over 20. CHAIN OF FIRES. “ We could judge roughly the shape of the city from the gunfire around the outskirts even before wo got over Berlin. The flares made it light enough to pick out important features. We could see some of the others bombing, and to the northcast there was a small chain of fires burning. I said to my navigator, ■ We will make for those and see what can be seen there.’ As we approached we could see these fires were just a little' south of our actual target, which was a large gasworks on that side of Berlin. That was a bit of luck for us as it meant we were able to make our tracks in the actual run up on the target. One usually has to make a dummy run first, but on this occasion we were able to bomb the first time, with only a few minor corrections VIOLENT EXPLOSIONS. “ At first we thought we missed because we saw only normal bombing bursts. About 10 seconds later there were violent explosions in the centre of the stick. I think the wireless operator noticed it first. He was looking out through the Astro hatch, and he called out, ‘ It’s a beauty; it’s blown everything up.’ Ho said later he saw a flash and then a great pillar of firp seemed to come up in the air. All this time we had been getting a certain amount of fire from heavy guns on the ground, but nothing to -worry us much, although away through the cloud we saw aqother of our bombers caught in searchlights and come under very heavy fire. As we left we could see other people bombing our fires, and there were practically continuous salvoes of bombs falling on various parts of the city. It wsa the biggest show I have ever seen.” The bomb aimer said he counted at least 20 fires burning. “ You could still see them 135 miles away, after which we ran into cloud again, and the view was obscured. We were second back at tbo base on our return, but 'all the others returned within an hour or so, and everyone reported that ho had dropped his bombs.” GERMAN ADMISSIONS WICKED ATTACK ON CIVILIANS " LONDON, September 25. A Berlin message states that it is officially admitted that 11.A.P. raiders on Monday night directly hit two Ber-

lin factories. Flames in North Berlin were not controlled until late in the day. Bombs were dropped beside gasworks, after which the pressure was very low in homes over a wide area. An intcrurban railway was damaged and traffic interrupted. One lino was closed all morning. The evening newspapers feature the R.A.F.’s “ wicked attack on Berlin civilians ” and reveal that tiie bomb crater at -the gasworks was 30ft wide. Other bombs tore huge holes in a dozen apartment houses and destroyed houses on the outskirts of the city. GERMAN ALUMINIUM WDRKS IMPORTANT TARGET FOR R.A.F. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 24. , According to trustworthy information, the large aluminium works at Lauta, about 100 miles south-east of Berlin, which were attacked by the R.A.F. on Supday night, accounts for just under 30 per cent, of Germany’s total output of this material, which is vital for the construction of aircraft. Bauxite, the raw material of aluminium, is in fact one of the few minerals of .which Germany has ample supplies, but the importance of this target is derived from the fact that the Germans are attempting to achieve a large increase in the output of aluminium with a view to using it as a substitute for other metals of which, owing to the blockade, they are seriously short, notably copper. The German supply of bauxite may be ample, but the factory resources available for converting it into aluminium are not. The destruction wrought at Lauta is therefore complementary to the exclusion from Germany by the blockade of metals such as copper. GERMAN SUPPLY SHIP SUNK INVASION PORTS AGAIN ATTACKED (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 25, (Received September 26, at 12.20 p.m.) Hudson aircraft of the Coastal Command sank a German supply ship near the Frisian Islands early on Wednesday morning. There -were three enemy vessels in convoy. The Hudson made a dive-bombing attack on the largest one, which was leading. Three bombs made direct hits. The ship was settling by the stern when the Hudson flow away, followed by anti-aircraft fire from the two other vessels. Brest was again attacked, this time by Beauforts and Ansons of the Coastal Command. They set fire to an infantry barracks, damaged docks, and started a vast fire on and around railway sidings. When Coastal Command Blenheims raided Cherbourg they had to contend with extremely bad visibility, but all found their bbjectives. One pilot had to search for his target for 35 minutes amidst intense anti-aircraft fire.