POTSDAM STATION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 September 1940, Page 5

POTSDAM STATION

HIT REPEATEDLY BY BRITISH BOMBERS Powerful Onslaught in Heart of Berlin EXTENDED ATTACKS ALONG ENEMY COASTS ON BARGE CONCENTRATIONS AND NAVAL ESTABLISHMENTS In Tuesday night’s raids on Germany by the R.A.F., Daventry reports, repeated hits were obtained on Potsdam Station, in Berlin, but this was only one of many objectives attacked in Germany. Other targets bombed included naval barracks and barges concentrated all along the French, Belgian and Dutch coasts, in the hope of an invasion of Britain. Docks and harbours were also attacked, besides gun emplacements and aerodromes in Germany and enemy-occupied countries. Four British planes have not returned. The crew of a British bomber reported lost, on Tuesday have been rescued.

MANY FIRES

GERMAN CAPITAL WELL LIT UP MOST INTENSE RAID TO DATE REICHSTAG BUILDING STRUCK. BOMBS FALL IN UNTER DEN LINDEN. LONDON, September 11. • British bombs fell in the heart of Berlin early this morning in what is believed to have been the most intense raid the city has yet undergone. An Air Ministry communique describes the concentrated bombing of the big Potsdam Railway Station in the centre of the city and states that a large fire and other smaller fires were caused on the targets. This station is one of Germany’s main termini and handles traffic for Magdeburg and south-western Germany. Agency reports from Berlin state that bombs also fbll on the famous Berlin boulevard, Unter den Linden, and near the Wilhelmstrasse, where the Reich Chancellery and ForeignOffice are situated. The Berlin correspondent of the Associated Press of America says the Reichstag, the interior of which was burnt when the Nazis came to power in 1933, was struck by an incendiary bomb during the raid. It is stated that the city was so well lit up by flares that it was possible to read a newspaper in the light. The night’s aerial onslaught on London on the other hand, was less severe than on the previous three nights. The Air Ministry communique on

the raid on Berlin states: “Potsdam station was repeatedly hit with heavy bombs and some 100 incendiary bombs when the Royal Air Force again raided the German capital last night. The raid was made by a force of bombers which delivered the attack with great precision. There was ground-haze over most of the city, the aircraft located the target at 12.15 a.m. and began the attack. All the planes which took part claimed direct hits, and fires broke out. One of them was particularly large and there were a number of smaller fires.”

The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press says bombs were seen falling in the centre of Berlin during an air-raid alarm which lasted from 11.55 p.m. to 1.47 a.m. One bomb crashed through a house next to the United States Embassy and only 100 yards from the Wilhelm Platz (a square opposite the Chancellery on the Wilhelmstrasse). An incendiary bomb also fell near the United States Embassy, and two others fell in the middle of Unter den Linden immediately in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The embassy was not damaged. The first bomb lit up the famous gate like daylight; the windows of nearby offices rattled and blue smoke rolled up from Unter den Linden. A highexplosive bomb fell 100 yards from the former French Embassy, sending plumes of smoke and sparks 75 yards. The raiders circled over the centre of the capital at a low altitude for at least 30 minutes and dropped six parachute flares. GERMAN COMMUNIQUE LONDON, September 10. An official German communique states that in a raid on Berlin by the R.A.F. last night bombs struck the Art Academy in the heart of the city, the premises of the German Engineers’ Union and Hedwigs Hospital, and also residential and business property.