R.A.F. ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 March 1941, Page 5

R.A.F. ATTACKS

ON GERMAN INDUSTRIAL AREAS And on Submarine and Other Bases NAZI RAIDS ON SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND SOME DESTRUCTION OF FAMILY HOMES On Saturday night the R.A.F. attacked the industrial area of Dusseldorf and the submarine base of Lorient, the 8.8. C. reports. One British plane failed to return, but it is now known that it landed safely elsewhere. At least one enemy plane was destroyed over Britain on Saturday night, when the south-east area of England, including London, was the main target. In one district, between 60 and 70 families were rendered homeless. During the day yesterday there was nothing to report.

EARLIER NEWS

DEVASTATION WROUGHT IN RUHR OIL PLANTS LEFT BLAZING. ACHIEVEMENTS OF BOMBER AND COASTAL COMMANDS (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 15. The story of last night’s R.A.F. raids is given in the following Air Ministry communique: The Ruhr was the scene of the Bombei’ Command’s main effort, and. while conditions were not so favourable as on recent nights, excellent results were obtained. A heavy and successful attack was made on the great hydrogeneration plants at Gelsenkirchen, where oil. is produced from coal. The industrial area of Dusseldorf was also attacked, and here incendiaries were used on a large scale. Elsewhere in the Ruhr factories, communications and other targets were bombed. A very effective attack though on a small scale, was made on oil tanks at Rotterdam. The Coastal Command made night raids on shipping, aerodromes and docks at a number of points on the coast of enemy-occupied territory from Norway to Brest. The Fighter Command carried out offensive patrols over several enemy aerodromes during the night. One enemy aircraft was set on fire and others damaged. Ground defences, searchlights and buildings were swept with machine-gun fire. From all these operations two of our j planes are missing, one of the Bomber Command and one of the Coastal Command. TARGETS ILLUMINATED. An Air Ministry News Bulletin, dealing with R.A.F. attacks on Friday night on synthetic oil plants fit Gelsenkirchen, which were the main objective of; a large force of aircraft of the Bomber Command, says it was a clear night, with a full moon and nee cloud, but at Gelsenkirchen itself factories were hard at work and smoke from the chimneys mingled with a thick ground haze. This was never enough to hide the town, and several pilots found the weather ideal for bombing. Flares were used to find the oil plants, and one of these, floating down on to the roof of a large building belonging to one of the, plants, served as an incendiary and started a good fire. On one of the oil plants bombs were seen to burst over’ the whole area of the factory. It took some time for the fires to get going, but, once started,, they quickly gained a hold. and. soon columns of black smoke were intermingled with leaping flames. Toward the end of the raid, the fires were so extensive that the pilot of the last aircraft over the scene found the whole target completely illuminated. Tall chimneys were sharply silhouetted in black against the glow. At another oil plant the fires came earlier and quickly changed’ from the white of the first outbreak to firce red. which showed that the flames had eaten their way into the buildings. The attack on Gelsenkirchen began early and was over just before midnight. Meanwhile. 25 miles away to the south-west, fires were streaming up from Dusseldorf, after a short concentrated attack on the industrial centre of the city. As at Gelsenkirchen, the skies were clear and ground haze and smoke eddying over-the city gave little trouble in finding targets. A high proportion of incendiaries was used, and, toward the end of the raid, explosives were dropped into the fires. FIRES AT ROTTERDAM One pilot, far over the Ruhr, saw fires more than 100 miles away to the west, where oil storage tanks at Rotterdam had been attacked, As he approached Rotterdam on the way home, he saw a huge column of smoke rising from the blaze. Over this part of Holland visibility was particularly good, and, in the course of the raid, bombs were seen to fall plumb on oil tanks. As on recent nights the enemy was encouraged by bright moonlight to send up many night fighters, and. once again, there were several inconclusive interceptions. But on the way back from Gelsenkirchen one. R.A.F. heavy bomber, flying at a height of about 14,000 feet, was attacked by an enemy fighter coming in from Ostend at the same height. The rear gunner replied with three or four fairly long bursts, and saw his incendiary bullets hit the enemy in several places.. The enemy I then broke away in a climbing turn, and as he went, the rear gunner continued to fire into the fighter's belly. That was the last the rear gunner saw of him. But the enemy had come up (again. He now approached on the port (side, about 200 feet above the British [aircraft, and within view of the front [gunner, who took his chance and fired one fairly long burst and then another. IHe saw incendiary bullets hit the fuseilaCTe, and the enemy heeled over and disappeared for good. He was so severely damaged that, in the gunnels opinion, ho would almost certainly not have reached his base. ATTACKS ON AERODROME.

Two fighter pilots, who flew over to France during the night found an aerodrome with 20 bombers on the ground. Despite blue searchlights, heavy ma-chine-gun fire and pompoms firing red. white and blue shells, they came down low. One of the pilots set one of the bombers on fire on the first attack. He came back, and fired down a searchlipht beat, hitting the light, then shot

at a pompom gun crew and saw some of th-m lying on the ground. He made further attacks on bombers, on a petrol tanks, and on pompoms. His companion made similar attacks, and hit one searchlight,, which went out.

ENEMY RAIDS

BOMBS ON THE CLYDESIDE AND LONDON DESTRUCTION OF NAZI MACHINES. MORE SUCCESSES OF NIGHT . FIGHTERS. RUGBY, March 15. Enemy activity on Friday night was on a considerable scale and was spread over most parts of the country, states a communique. The Clydeside was again attacked, but the raid was not so heavy as on Thursday. Damage was done to business premises and houses. Some people were killed and a large number was injured, when a block of flats was destroyed, but, apart from this incident, casualties were not expected to be' heavy. A town in the north-west of England had a sharp attack. Some shops and industrial premises were damaged. A number of fires was started, but these were effectively dealt with and brought under control. The number of casualties was not large. Five enemy aircraft were destroyed during the night, three of them by Beaufighters and two by anti-aircraft gunfire. Regarding daylight enemy activity the communique says there is nothing to report. Four of one family, a father, mother and two sons, were killed when a heavy bomb fell on a workers’ street in a north-east coast town, says a Press Association message. A stick of bombs straddled a row of workers’ houses in ! a south coast town and killed four fire--watchers, and a mother, her daughter [ and a grandchild and a mother and three children. Ten were killed when bombs struck houses in a north Midland village. Many are homeless as a result of Liverpool’s raid, which lasted as'long I as the previous two nights. Between 400 and 500 firebombs fell in one London district within a few minutes. Firewatchers were called from roof to roof. All the outbreaks were quickly tackled, but one large building caught fire, necessitating the services of fire brigades. Fire parties of neighbours fought many incendiaries on a housing estate in a town on the east coast of England. PURSUIT AND KILL. A pilot who shot down a raider two nights ago. repeated his success on. Friday night, states the Air Ministry. He caught a Junkers 88 which dived 5000 feet with a Beaufighter on its tail, after being hit. The pace became too fast to continue the pursuit, but the Beaufighter pilot saw his victim hit the ground soon afterward and explode. A Heinkel 111 was intercepted off the east coast and the German reargunner put out of action by the first burst. After another burst a large piece flew off and dented the Beaufighter’s wing. Thirty miles out to sea one of the enemy’s crew bailed out. The Heinkel then turned, losing height rapidly, to try to regain the coast, but crashed into the sea just off land. A wing commander caught a raider flying home very fast. He closed in and fired a five-second burst, that started fires in the cockpit and one engine. The raider spiralled down to the sea in flames. It is stated by the War Office that German aircraft raiding Britain on Friday night were met by some of the heaviest opposition anti-aircraft gunners have yet put up. It is confirmed that two enemy aircraft were brought down by A.A. fire, while several others suffered damage and most probably failed to reach their bases. Friday night’s raids spread over most of the country, according to this morning’s communique, and it is suggested that the scattered nature of the attacks may be attributed to the accuracy and weight of the A.A fire. The total number of enemy aircraft shot down in night attacks on Britain in March by anti-aircraft guns is 17. of which 15 have previously been claimed. It is understood that the ninth enemy aircraft destroyed on Wednesday night is now credited to anti-air-craft guns. It was additional to two not previously claimed as destroyed, which have been confirmed as shot down by anti-aircraft fire, one on Tuesday night, and one the previous Tuesday night. The total of night raiders lost by tho enemy over Britain in the first half of March is 41, which represents a rate of loss well over double that sustained by the Luftwaffe in night attacks in September and October. In all, 188 night raiders have been brought down since last June, when the attacks after darkness beaan. CLAIMS BY THE NAZIS. A German communique states that the Luftwaffe continued night operations against Britain with undiminished vigour, strong bomber formations again attacking Glasgow and causing" large fires in wharves and warehouses. Another strong formation simultaneously attacked Sheffield, very heavy bombs hitting steelworks and a cannon factory. Further successful attacks caused fires on Tilbury Docks and harbour installations at Plymouth and Southampton, the communique states.