Widespread Air Attacks in France

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 66, 22 March 1944, Page 5

Widespread Air Attacks in France

(British Official Wireless.) Received Tuesday, 9.20 p.m. RUGBY, March 20. Thunderbolts and fighter-bombers swept down from nigh altitudes ou Tuesday to carry out sudden and swift attacks on three Luftwaffe airfields in Northern France. The planes, some 01 which were escorted and covered by Thunderbolt fighters, all returned without loss from these operations which were part of a daylong offensive on enemy targets in France, The targets were the airfields at Poix and at Conches, roughly some 60 miles northwest of Paris, and military installations around the airfield at Abbe ville. Dropping 5001 b. bombs as well as incendiaries Thunderbolts reported hits on dispersal areas, hangars, administration buildings and barracks. Pilots on the Conches attack reported blasting tho railway line leading into Conches at the same time as hitting the airfield. Other pilots reported that their bombs fell squarely among A.A. emplacements at Abbeville. The airfield at Abbeville was at one time the home of one of the most famous Luftwaffe fighter packs. Simultaneously other fighter-bombers were searching the skies high over Poix for a hole in the clouds and finally came down through a break to bomb administration buildings, dispersal areas and hangars. A pilot said the field at Poix was dotted with fresh bomb craters. All three Thunderbolt formations reported that German troops at the airfields threw up flak, in some cases thick and incessant, but no enemy aircraft were sighted in the air or on the ground.