DEADLY EFFECT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 July 1941, Page 5

DEADLY EFFECT

RAIDS ON RUMANIAN OIL FIELDS PRODUCTION HEAVILY REDUCED. MUCH DAMAGE TO PLANT & TRANSPORT. LONDON, July 22. With the arrival in Russia of the British experts on Rumanian oil production, the Russian raids against the oilfields have become increasingly deadly. The Istanbul correspondent of the “Daily Mail” says that millions of gallons of petrol has been destroyed. The oil wells themselves have been damaged, and also the head of the pipe-line at Giurgiu. It is stated by an expert that the Rumanian oil production in the next three months will be reduced by one-third. The Russian bombings of Galati and Sulina have severel damaged the dredging plant and dykes, which are most important because the Danube is constantly silting up and requires frequent dredging. The Istanbul correspondent of “The Times" says that since the RussianGerman war reduced Black Sea traffic to 'a standstill, Turkey has been cut off from Rumania, her principal source of oil. Even transport in drums overland was interrupted after the destruction of bridges during the Balkans war. The stoppage of the Rumanian oil supply to Turkey has been attributed to the Russian air raids on Ploesti, but the damage to the oil plants, though it is substantial, does not justify exaggerated optimism that proclaims their complete destruction. A Moscow message says that the damage to the Ploesti oil plants as a result of the Soviet air raids is estimated at £238,000.