BRITISH BOMBING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 June 1940, Page 6

BRITISH BOMBING

MORAL & MATERIAL EFFECTS IN GERMANY DEVASTATION OF INDUSTRIAL AREAS. EFFORTS AT CONCEALMENT FAIL. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 12.10 p.m.) RUGBY. June 24. There is good reason to believe, from information received in London, that British raids over Ger- . many are having a very marked moral effect, in the great industrial areas of Western Germany there have been severe losses in production and many night shifts have had to be cancelled. It is now clear that great devastation has been caused to explosives factories, oil refineries and marshalling yards. A point of considerable interest is that the reports show that Germans who have had experience of those raids are all the more astonished and alarmed because it had been drilled into them that British bombers would never be allowed to operate over Germany. Cf course the Nazis allow no news of the raids to be published in unraided areas of Germany, but unfortunately for the success of this policy the rumours which result from it have proved to have an even worse effect on morale than would the publication of authentic news.

In this connection it is very significant that the Germans have begun to operate night fighters patrols over Germany. Present experience does not suggest that they will represent a very serious interference with the activities of the R.A.F. over Germany, but they involve a useful diversion of German strength. The Ail- Ministry announced: —“Yesterday daylight attacks were made by our bombers on railway junctions and aerodromes in Holland and Germany. Three of our aircraft are missing. Last night attacks were continued on military objectives in Germany. These included munitions factories, marshalling yards and railway junctions in Meckleriberg, the Ruhr and the Rhineland. Heavy damage was done. Our aircraft returned safely.”

HAMBURG ATTACKED ALARM IN BERLIN SUBURBS. (Received This Day, 1.15 p.m.) BERLIN. June 24. The Official News Agency staled that the R.A.F. bombed Hamburg last night. Property damage was slight. There was an air raid alarm, lasting for an hour in the neighbourhood of Potsdam and also in the westernmost suburbs of Berlin. Planes were heard but no bombs were dropped.