City Swamped by Incendiary Bombs

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 57, 10 March 1944, Page 5

City Swamped by Incendiary Bombs

> (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) LONDON, March 8. Plying Fortresses ana Liberators carried out the war’s greatest fire raid when they battled through the German e fighter and ground defences to Berlin t to-day. A British United Press correspondent I at a bomber base says about 1000 Dombers were used and more than 800 a ugnters protected the armada, jj Crews of the second division of bomb--3 ers which swept over Berlin reported tires so intense and smoke so thicn that they still saw great plumes of smoke as . they crossed the Dutch frontier on the ; journey home. Bomber crews reported { cnat the German fighters were more j ferocious than on Monday and seemeu t at least equal to the nuniDer which . attached on the final lap to Berlin. The attacks, however, began just inside . Germany and the bom»ers were forced j to fight their way to the capital. x Hundreds of escorting Thunderbolts, 1 Mustangs and Lightnings held off the i oulk of the German figuters, but those i slipping through the American fighter t screens pressed their attacks reientt lessly. There was also a thick carpet j of flak, but the boniDers ignored this 1 and devoted their attention to the Ger- . xnan fighters. * The leading wave of Fortresses bore 2 the brunt of the fighter opposition, and some of the following groups reported - not a single attack, many crews declar- : mg it was the easiest mission they had . undertaken over Germany. s The bombers made a several-pronged - attack through the heaviest flak de--1 fences, thus slipping into many vital - targets. One group reported that fires - were springing up all along the city’s i industrial perimeter. ; One Fortress captain who ran into i trouble said: “Whole fleets of German ’ planes came up, including twin-engined, . rocket-firing fighters, around whicn the t Germans put a protecting screen of i single-engmed planes. These formations ■ attacked our bomoers without dispers- , mg, and dived and rolled right through r our groups. There were huge fires m ; Berlin when we arrived and great t clouds of smoke rising 7000 feet.’’ A fighter pilot said: “The Germans * seemed to throw up every available i plane, including trainers, which were easy prey. We fought the German fighters through flak hursts, with men on parachutes stumbling all round us.” United States fighters shot down 83 enemy planes. Sixteen American fighti ers and 38 bombers are missing. United States Strategic Air Force ; Headquarters announced that the Erkner ball-bearing factory, situated in an eastern suburb of Berlin, was hit in today’s attack. Other targets were also hit. There was considerable enemy | tighter reaction, but preliminary reports f 1 indicate that the number of enemy air--1 craft our fighters destroyed approximates the large number snot down on Monday. The Erxner works are oelieved to have been making 90 per cent, of Germany’s ball-bearings for tanks, aircraft and other purposes since the , destruction at Schweinfurt. The German News Agency says that ; the bombers crossed tho Dutch coast shortly before noon, after which they split up into seven main formations. Violent combats over the frontier area quickly developed into a great new air battle. German fighter interceptor squadrons launched both massed and single attacks. The air combats were continuous between the Weser and the outskirts of Berlin. The News Agency claimed that many planes were shot down en route to and over Berlin where the sky was cloudless and visibUity perfect. It added: After the raid the bombers flew back on a westerly course and very heavy air battles occurred over Northwestern Germany. An Air Ministry communique reports slight enemy activity early last night over parts of Southern England. A few bombs wero dropped but caused little damage and no casualties. SOFTENING-UP VITAL BAIL JUNCTIONS Commenting on the R.A.F. raids on Trappes and Le Mans, the Evening News says: “The heavy bombers have begun a softening up offensive against vital rail junctions through which Ger - man troops and supplies must pass to '• the invasion coast. Le Mans is one ot ] the most important rail junctions for ‘ the German invasion garrisons in Brit- ’ tany and Western France, it is a vital pivot for large-scale transfers of men 1 and material between German strong- c points on the western half of the Bug- ( iish Channel and the Bay of Biscay. \ Both raids were evidently designed to i interfere with rapid communications between Paris and the Channel and Bay t of Biscay ports. Both appear to have . taken the Germans by surprise.” 1 ‘ 4 Coordinated attacks on two German ( airfields in Holland were carried out » this afternoon by approximately 150 [ Marauders,’’ states an Anglo-American joint communique. , “Tho airfields are at Soesterberg, { 35 miles northwest of Rotterdam, and , Volkel, only 15 miles from the German border. The Marauders were escorted and covered by R.A.F., Dominion and { Allied fighters. None of our aircraft 1 is missing. The crews reported no fighter opposition, x’ighter pilots said that they observed very good bombing results. Heavy damage was caused to both airfields, including the destruction of hangars, small adjoining buildings, and barracks. Large fires were left burning in the aircraft dispersal areas and runways, and the taxiways at Soes- ( terberg, it is believed, were hit. Crews 1 reported huge fires and columns of black smoke rising from the target ' area. ’ ’ i The Marauders also dropped incendi- 1 aries at Soesterberg, which ignited in ' the barracks area. <