BERLIN ABLAZE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 April 1941, Page 5

BERLIN ABLAZE

UNDER ROYAL AIR FORCE ATTACK

HAVOC IN CENTRE OF CITY. NAZIS ADMIT CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON. April 10. Berlin was attacked last night by aircraft of the Bomber Command. The attack lasted nearly three hours. Large fires were started, in the centre of the city, where powerful high-explosive bombs were also-seen to burst. A German communique states: "The R.A.F. flew over Germany last night, the main attack being against Berlin. High explosives and incendiaries caused considerable damage in residential quarters, also in the centre of. the town.- Public and other buildings of historic importance were also hit. The enemy raided Emden. Bremen and a number of other points in north Germany.”

A German news agency says: “The R.A.F. dropped 10 tons of bombs in Sansouci Park and on the new palace of Potsdam. Firemen reported the Berlin Opera House a complete loss. Dense smoke attracted hundreds of spectators, but the fire was roped off. Hundreds of yards of hose criss-crossed the Unter den Linden. Incendiaries fell on many other buildings in the Unter den Linden. They gutted the top floor of William I’s palace and the university, fell on the famous Prussian State Library and damaged office buildings. Bombs hit Bellevue Castle.” CLEAR MOONLIGHT. The raiding planes made the long flight to Berlin on a clear night under a moon that was almost full. As they went into make a heavy attack on the German capital, all the defences of the city sprang into action. In the opinion of many pilots, these defences have been strengthened since the last attack, but this new attempt to make the ciTy as impregnable as it was once declared to be did not prevent the bombers from discharging a load of high explosive bombs and many thousands of incendiaries in the centre of the city. The attack was pressed home as though against a fort, and, while the bombers were within range of batteries placed from the outskirts of the city 'to the centre, the air seemed to be full of bursting shells and weaving searchlights. Before midnight bombs were seen to burst near the main railway station in Berlin, and others exploded in a large goods yard. With the progress of the attack the number of fires increased, and in the third hour of the raid a great fire sprang up in the heart of the capital, from . which tremendous clouds of smoke surged high into the air. Most pilots came under very heavy fire, but there were moments when the weight of the attack baffled the defenders, and a few British aircraft were able to slip through unmolested. A pilot who was caught by the outer ring of the city’s defences dived down below bursting shells to drop bombs over the centre of Berlin.

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