BREMEN ABLAZE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1941, Page 8

BREMEN ABLAZE

RAIDED FOR THIRD NIGHT IN SUCCESSION ' VITAL DAMAGE TO INDUSTRIES <£. PORT. I WHOLE TARGET AREA A SEA OF FLAMES. ißritish Official Wiroloss.) RUGBY. January 4. An Air Ministry communique states! “The industrial area of Bremen was attacked in good visibility last night by the Bomber j Command. The target was repeatedly hit by bombs of large and medium calibres, and many incendiaries were dropped. j “Eighteen red fires were observed j four of which were large, and so many I white fires that the number could not | be counted. Aircraft arriving later on ! the scene found tlie target area a sea ; of flames. One of our aircraft drove ! off and damaged a twin-engined enemy ! ! fighter which sough* to interfere. ’ “Other targets in enemy-occupied i ’ territory were also attacked. One of! i our aircraft is missing." The main attack on Bremen, the! third successive night assault, was! very destructive. In the words of i one pilot, the fires "Lit up Bremen and showed the shape of the whole town.” •* The raids began early in the even-! ing the first aircraft arriving soon j after 7 p.m. It took no more than i three hours to do all this damage, and ‘ the last bomber was away shortly { after 10 p.m. Many aircraft began the journey in ; weather that was us bad as winter can make it and with no break in the low clouds till they came to the Dutch coast, but on the rest of the journey ■ (the piloLs reported that the weather i I was clearer over Holland good over { Germany, and perfect over Bremeh • itself. The night was so clear that ! one of the pilots could see ver' plain- { ly from 10.000 feet two ships in the; Hunte-Ems Canal. It was only when dense black smoke began lo roll over) the town and the spreading fires be- { can to blur the outline of facturie.--1 and dockyards that the pilots had any , difficulty in recognising their übjec- { lives. Bremen, which is a great industrial) centre as well as the second largest'' seaport in Germany, offers a variety j of targets. The dockyards, naval base, j and shipbuilding yards were once) again attacked, and the bombers also I hit factories, warehouses, railways and ' goods yards. As well as incendiaries I they dropped many large high-explo- 1 sive bombs, which were so destructive | that even the crews of aircraft flying) high could see the debris flung up by i the explosions. One of the largest factory buildings ! in the city was set ablaze from end to ’ end. There were violent explosions.) distinct from the bursting of the ; bombs on a goods yard. A lire ran j along the mam railway line and rapid- i ly spread iqward the river. In some t industrial districts the general con-, flagration finally obscured all details. ! and nothing could be seen but a swirl-* ing mass of flame.