TANKS & LORRIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 April 1942, Page 3

TANKS & LORRIES

DESTROYED BY BRITISH BOMBERS EQUIPMENT OF FIVE ENEMY DIVISIONS. WIPED OUT IN THREE RAIDS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, April 7. In three air raids, only one of which was heavy, the other two being on a more moderate scale, the Royal Air Force has struck a blow at the German armoured and mechanised divisions which would have been regarded as a victory if it had been achieved by an Allied army of millions of armed and mechanised troops as a result of a prolonged and bloody campaign. In these three raids, and in the space of about six hours, the air force has destroyed the greater part of the Renault Works, mostly beyond repair, and seriously damaged the great Matford works so that the immense production of these two factories has been stopped, much of it for at least a year. Some may not be resumed till after the' war. Even if part of this production can ultimately be resumed, the German Army has lost at least the equivalent of one year’s output from Renault and many months from Matford. The R.A.F. may be said, therefore, to have destroyed more than 20,000 German lorries and large numbers of tanks and armoured vehicles; in fact, the entire equipment for five armoured and mechanised divisions. This was done at the cost of four bombers and 25 men. The Commander-in-Chief, Bomber Command, in a message to the workers engaged in the manufacture of bombs, says: “Keep at it, and we shall keep at it, too. We are determined to keep up our own export trade to Germany. We must not neglect our duty to our customers.”