HAVOC IN BERLIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 November 1940, Page 6

HAVOC IN BERLIN

EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES IN RAILWAY YARDS KRUPP WORKS SUFFER HEAVILY. AND ITALIAN ARMS FACTORIES AT TURIN. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 12.40 p.m.) RUGBY, November 24. Last night the R.A.F.’s main attack was on both ends of the Axis, reaching Berlin early in the evening and Turin an hour before midnight,” says the Air Ministry news service. “In Berlin the Putlitzstrasse and Lehrter railway goods yards were bombed shortly before 8 p.m. Ten very large fires were started. One burnt so fiercely that though air aircraft were flying high, they were lit up by the fire. At about the' same time, a thousand incendiary bombs were dropped in the yards between the Potsdamer and Anhalter railway stations. These started fires and after high explosive bombs had been seen to burst there were several further explosions. One pilot observed a direct hit on the big Potsdamer Railway Station. He saw his bombs burst and cause fires, which in turn resulted in three explosions. “Equally early in the evening, Krupp’s works at Essen were beingattacked. The moon had not risen and the crews of the aircraft reported intense darkness, but they cruised over their target till they had identified it beyond doubt. Fierce fires which broke out soon glowed up through the dark as they gained hold, and were still showing when the planes were twenty miles away. One pilot reported a particularly large fire and two smaller ones in approximately the centre of the great arsenal and another aircraft caused an explosion which actually lasted for ten seconds. “At Turin, the Royal Arsenal and the Fiat Works were raided. Incendiary bombs from the first aircraft to arrive lit up the target for their successors and one pilot described how his bombs burst right in the middle of the flames, producing a series of smaller explosions. When ho had turned for a second crossing of the Alps, fires could be seeen burning many miles behind him.”

MANY TARGETS/ ■ —■ INLAND & COASTAL AREAS. (Received This Day, 12.27 p.m.) RUGBY, November 24. In addition to recording attacks on Berlin, Essen and Turin, an Air Ministry communique states: “Another heavy attack was made by the R.A.F. on the inland port of DuisbergRuhrort. A canal and wharves at Cologne and railway sidings at|Dortmund were also bombed. Oil targets selected were at Wanne Eickle and Dortmund and fires were observed at both places. A factory at Castroprauxel and several enemy aerodromes were also bombed. ‘•Aircraft of the Coastal Command attacked the submarine base at Lorient, a power station at Brest and harbour installations at Boulogne. “Yesterday, aircraft of the Coastal Command, while on a routine patrol, bombed the wireless station at Vikero, on the Norwegian coast. “Two of our aircraft are missing.”'