BUSY MONTH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 July 1941, Page 5

BUSY MONTH

OVER TWO MILLION MILES { FLOWN BY BRITISH FIGHTER PILOTS. LOSSES HEAVILY AGAINST ENEMY. i — (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. July 19. Between (June 14 and July 14 Fighter Command pilots flew over 2,000,000 miles, carrying out 36 successful offensive sweeps over enemy territory. During these sweeps they destroyed 301 Messerschmitts and probably destroyed many others. In addition our bombers destroyed four Messerschmitts and damaged others. These victories over enemy territory cost the Royal Air Force 118 fighters, while 17 pilots were saved. Many others were seen to land by parachute in France. Another notable success in the Royal Air Force’s offensive against German communications and supplies was scored today when Blenheims of the Bomber Command carried out what officially was described as a very successful attack on an enemy convoy escorted by anti-aircraft ships off the Dutch coast. Four ships of the convoy were probably destroyed. Three of them, each of about 6000 tons, were set on fire. The fourth, of about 4000 tons, blew up after being hit astern. Heavy bombers escorted by fighters bombed the docks at Dunkirk this afternoon. Four enemy fighters were destroyed by the escort. From all these operations three of our bombers and two fighters are missing. HAVOC IN GERMANY CITIES LAID IN RUINS. UNDER SHATTERING BLOWS OF R.A.F. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, July 19. Many unofficial reports have reached England lately of very considerable damage in many of the great industrial centres of western Germany as the result of almost nightly raids by.the Royal Air Force. Dusseldorf, according to several reports, is in ruins while Hamburg and Bremen have suffered immense damage. Authoritative information concerning damage to two of Germany s principal railway centres', which is contained in an Air Ministry bulletin, serves to illustrate the effect Royal Air Force bombing is having on industrial Germany. At least one-third of Mun- ' ster and Aachen have been destroyed or seriously damaged. Aachen and Munster are but two of many industrial centres \of western Germany which have received the heaviest R.A.F. attacks during the past five weeks. An Ankara message reports that diplomats from Germany say that the intensity of the recent British air raids surpasses anything the Luftwaffe has attempted on Britain. Dusseldorf, on which R.A.F. crews from American Flying Fortresses dropped American bombs of 40001 b and 10001 b calibre, is now practically all in charred ruins. The harbour installations of Bremen have been blasted until they are useless. Hanover had the heaviest bombing of any military objectives since the outbreak of the war. The Germans are dredging and dynamiting in the Kiel Canal several times a week to remove the wreckage cf ships which have been sunk by bombs. Railway communications in western Germany have been extensively and seriously damaged, resulting in a shortage of food and other commodities in many places.

BOMBS ON GERMANY

PROMISED BY LORD HALIFAX. BRITAIN’S EXPANDING POWER, LONDON, July 20. Britain’s pledge in inflict bigger raids on Germany was repeated by the British Ambassador to'the United States, Lord Halifax, in an address to workers at the Richmond shipyards, California. He told them that Hitler would know more about bombing in the next six months than ever before because Britain was now able to give back as good, if not better, than he had given her. Lord Halifax praised the great assistance being given by the workers of the United States, particularly those who were contributing to the winning of the Battle of the Atlantic.