MIGHTY BLOWS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 October 1940, Page 5

MIGHTY BLOWS

STRUCK AT BOTH ENDS OF AXIS AIR FORCE DEALS WITH BERLIN & ITALY. ACCURATE & DETERMINED BOMBING. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) RUGBY, October 21. “Both ends of the Rome-Berlin Axis had a foretaste of the gathering strength of the R.A.F. last night when the capital of the German Reich and two of Italy’s great industrial centres simultaneously were attacked by aircraft of the Bomber Command,” says the Air Ministry News Service. “Berlin was twice raided during the night, the first attack beginning just before 10 p.m. and the last ending shortly after 4 o’clock this morning. A thick ground haze hung over the German capital and made targets somewhat difficult to locate when, the first of the Berlin raiders flew high over the city. After nearly half an hour had been spent cruising above the target area, under constant heavy fire from ground batteries, a great railway yard, abcut one and a half miles to the north of the Tiergarten, was seen glinting in the moonlight and was attacked with high explosive and incendiary bombs. Hits were seen to have been scored on sidings and five fires were started by flaming incendiaries. Following raiders bombed objectives near the centre of the city and an industrial target in a north-western suburb. The raiders could see their bombs bursting on the targets. “At 3 o’clock this morning, nearly two hours after the first raid had ended, Berliners again were startled by heavy calibre bombs bursting in the city. When the second raid had begun the ground haze, which earlier had enshrouded the city, had thinned and in clear visibility the raiding crews could see their objectives plainly outlined beneath them. Attacking in a shallow dive, the pilot of a heavy bomber held on his course, under a barrage of anti-aircaft and machine-gun fire, until within 2000 feet of the roof tops of Berlin. A stick of heavy bombs, released at the bottom of the dive, fell dead across an important objective in the very heart of the city, straddling it from south-east to north-wdst and setting part of it on fire. Behind the bomber, as it roared up and away over the city, a barrage balloon was hit by a hail of fire sent up by the ground defences and could be seen falling in flames. “Another raider when attacking a target in the same vicinity set fire to a large building, while the Putlitzstrasse and Lehrter railway yards and goods siding at Charlotenburg, one of the chief residential areas of Berlin were also heavily attacked. .“The fires started by incendiary bombs were still burning when the last raiders left the city soon after 4 a.m. THE ATTACKS ON ITALY. “Targets in Italy meanwhile had been attacked by another raiding force, which set out from England early in the evening, on a 1600 miles non-stop flight, which included a double crossing of the Alps. “Soon after midnight aircraft from this force reached their targets and soon bombs were falling on industrial plants in Turin and Milan. An attack was delivered on the Pirelli Electrical Accessory Factory at Sesto San Giovanni, a few miles north of Milan, while at Turin a branch of the Fiat motor works was bombed with high explosives. Incendiaries, dropped on a blast furnace at Aosta, scored hits at both ends of the targes and caused an outbreak of Are.”