FIRE AT DUSSELDORF

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 December 1940, Page 5

FIRE AT DUSSELDORF

LARGEST EVER SEEN BY BOMBER CREW HEAVY AND DESTRUCTIVE t RAID. PILOTS PROFIT BY GOOD VISIBILITY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.7 a.m.) RUGBY, December 8. A fire, which one bomber crew, well experienced in raids over Germany, describe as the largest they have ever seen, was left blazing at Dusseldorf after heavy R.A.F. raids last night. Full details are not yet available, but it is clear, states the Air Ministry News Service, that attacks on blastfurnaces, steel works, gasworks and railway yards constitute a raid as heavy and certainly as destructive as that of last Wednesday on the armaments factory and other vital targets in the same city. There was good visibility and the pilots had no difficulty in recognising their targets and observing the results. TJie railways, factory buildings and waterways showed brilliantly beneath the moon. Roofs caved in and an explosion tore the walls of the great steel works right open.

AIR MINISTRY REPORT FOUR BRITISH PLANES MISSING. ; IN EXTENDED OPERATIONS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) 1 RUGBY, December 8. An Air Ministry communique states: “R.A.F. bombers last night carried out effective and sustained attacks on many important industrial and military targets in the Dusseldorf area. The damage inflicted is believed to be severe. • “Other targets included were Antwerp, Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne, while several enemy aerodromes in Holland, Belgium and France' were bombed. “Coastal Command aircraft attacked naval shipyards and docks at Lorient and Brest. Hits, causing fires and explosions w’ere seen in the target area. “Four of our planes are missing.” IN ACTION AGAIN

GERMAN LONG-RANGE GUNS. DOVER BOMBARDED AGAIN. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) LONDON, December 8. After three days’ silence, the German long-range guns on the mist-veil-ed French coast were active in a brief but fairly intense bombardment of the Dover area. A German communique, which is mainly a repetition of the alleged results of air raids on Britain on the night of December 6, says the British last night flew over occupied territory and also Western Germany. Several bombs were dropped and three factories were caused insignificant damage. Six persons were killed and several wounded.