RUHR BOMBING
AIR MINISTRY GIVES GRAPHIC DETAILS TREMENDOUS DAMAGE DONE. SOME REPORTS BY OBSERVERS (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 10.58 a.m.) RUGBY, June 13. Further details of last night's air activity over the Ruhr, given by the Air Ministry news service, show that the attack started soon after dark. Aircraft of the Bomber Ccmmand were out in great force over a comparatively small, area, in which German industries are most thickly concentrated.
Wave after wave of British aircraft swept over the Ruhr, often coming down through the clouds and dropping flares to light up the ground below. Several aircraft bombed from so low that the crew distinctly fell the concussion of the heavier bombs. Buildings were silhouetted against, walls of fire and warehouses could be seen completely gutted. Whole areas were often lit up by flames. At one railway yard the dropping of a bomb was followed by a succession of explosions in line one after another, over a period of ten minutes, as though a store of ammunition had been hit. A typical experience of the night is described by one reargunner; “We made four runs over the •target before dropping bombs. Meanwhile we saw a terrific explosion and knew that another aircraft had already made its attack. It must have been an immense bomb. It was rather like the effect you get when you throw a rock into a pool—everything splashed up all round, then I saw black smoke hundreds o! feel, in area." Over another target there was a methodical search by many aircraft whose flares were dropped in a continuous rain. As an observer said: "There were never fewer than three in the sky at once and usually many more.”
German night, fighters were about and there were many conclusive engagements over Holland. A fighter came straight out of the moon towards one bomber. The rear-gunner held his fire till the enemy was close and then, at a hundred yards, gave a long burst. Immediately flames spurted from the fighter which at once went into a dive.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 June 1941, Page 6
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342RUHR BOMBING Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 June 1941, Page 6
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