TOLL OF R.A.F.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1941, Page 6

TOLL OF R.A.F.

NAZI CAMOUFLAGE NOVEL METHODS ADOPTED. SHAPE OF LAKES CHANGED. The Germans have adopted elaborate methods of camouflage in an endeavour to check the devastating Royal Air Force raids on Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen, writes a special correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” from the German frontier. A traveller who has visited these three cities recently told me of the havoc of the air raids. Railway stations at. Hanover and Hamburg, and other equally extensive targets, were completely hidden under a canopy of timber rising on a gentle ramp to form an artificial mound. This was covered with grass and rows of shrubs, the effect from the air being that of a road running through fields over the crest of a hill. The Germans also attempted to disguise landmarks by which they believe Royal Air Force pilots check their course near Lamburg. The shape of Alster Lake has been altered by covering parts of it with boards supported on piles. Another lake near Hamburg has been camouflaged by the same method. DUMMY HOUSES. After eight or nine oil storage tanks had been blown up near Hanover, and production stopped for several weeks, the Nazis covered the remaining tanks by erecting dummy houses on top. Local people told my informant that millions of marks had been spent in camouflaging landmarks. Describing the devastation in the three cities, he said that Hanover has suffered great damage. Whole streets in the industrial districts of the city have been “blown completely flat.” One of the most important targets which has been hit several times is the Continental Rubber Works, which makes rubber boats for the Luftwaffe bombers and a kind of rubber casing which the Germans are now using to cover parts of submarines. Apparently the Germans find that sea water quickly attacks paint, leaving the bright metal easily visible from the air. The rubber casing is used as camouflage. As a I’esult of one Royal Air Force attack the works had to be closed down for ten days. DEPOT BURNED OUT. During another recent raid Hanover tram depot received a direct hit and was burned out, 145 trams and buses being destroyed. Transport in the city is novz chaotic. At Hamburg the traveller was impressed by the tremendous devastation 'in the port area. Piles of debris and gutted buildings could be seen everywhere, and much damage had been done to port installations. Lombards Bridge had been hit, two of the three channels being unnavigable. An incendiary bomb started a fire which burned out a big Hamburg department store, the Alsberghaus. The proprietor, an Aryan, for whose benefit the store had been confiscated from former Jewish ownership, committed suicide from fear of having neglected to provide air-raid guards. In the free port at Bremen the traveller saw the skeleton of grain and coffee houses. Goods are now being stored in empty villas to distribute the risk.