Pathfinders Lead Bombers To Targets

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1942, Page 3

Pathfinders Lead Bombers To Targets

British Official Wireless.

Successful heavy raids under new system.

Rec. 7.45 p.m. Rugby, Aug. 29. The Bomber Command now has a number of crews known as Pathfinders who have been trained and equipped to begin an attack exactly in the right place. They are all picked men who volunteered for the task of going on in advance of the main force and finding and indicating the objective. Their navigation must be scrupulously accurate and their aim unerring. Pathfinders led the , attack on Kassel last Thursday night and also led the way to Nuremberg last night. The attack on Kassel was concentrated and effective. Kassel, which is some 80 miles east of the Ruhr, is an important manufacturing centre. The principal factories are the Henschel locomotive works — the largest in Europe— the Henschel aircraft engine works, which produce Daimler and Benz engines and the Fieseler aircraft works, which are producing Messerschmitt fighters. As well as the heavy attack on Kassel heavy bombers also attacked objectives at the Baltic port of Gdynia. Three Great Fires. Many of the aircraft attacked from 5000 feet and some from 1500 feet. The pilot of a Wellington which came in near the end of the attack saw three fires, each about an acre in extent. and after he had dropped his bombs more fires were seen. At the present stage of the war Kassel, with 218,000 inhabitants and 80 miles east of the Ruhr, is of great importance to Germany. With the moon so bright that visibility was good it was expected that

ivwvvvwwvwuvvvwwvvwu German night fighters would be out in strength and there were many combats and many stories of how bombers drove the enemy off. The heavy bombers which attacked Gdynia had a journey of nearly 1800 miles there and back. They found clouds over the port. They were persistent in their attack, one plane making 12 runs over the target before dropping its bombs. Bostons of the Bomber Command escorted by fighters attacked the docks ,at Ostend on Saturday morning while othler bombers attacked power stations in the Lille-Lens area. Two enemy fighters were destroyed during diversionary sweeps by our fighters. Two bombers and one fighter are missing. 30 Bombers Missing. A strong force of Royal Air Force bombers on Friday night attacked objectives at Nuremberg and Saarbrucken. Thirty of our bombers are missing. Nuremberg, formerly a beautiful old city, has been turned by the Germans into an important centre of war industry. It is well known as a Nazi stronghold and has a tank factory, a large aluminium works making piston rods and castings and a factory making heavy electrical equipment, while it is also an important railway centre with great repair shops for locomotives and rolling Etock. The weather was perfect for the attack with scarcely a trace of cloud for miles' around the target and a brilliant moon. With fires springing up from the targets the crews could see buildings and streets almost as clearly as in daytime. One Lancaster pilot reported terrific fires were raging when they arrived and they started more. The defence was very strong and the crews saw many combats going on around them as night fighters attacked Royal Air Force bombers. At least one Messerschmitt 110 was J destroyed. ' The attack on Saarbrucken was made i by a force almost as strong as that at Nuremberg. There was some haze over the town but many fires are reported.