AIR OFFENSIVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 April 1942, Page 3

AIR OFFENSIVE

ATTACK ON NORTHERN ITALY HEAVY LOAD OF BOMBS DROPPED ON RUHR. TEN BRITISH PLANES LOST. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, April 13. German war industries in the Ruhr receeived another visit from British bombers last night, when a heavy load of bombs was dropped. Northern Italy also received its first raid since September 28. A raid on enemy installations in Northern France did not end till al- 1 most dawn, and planes were still returning at daybreak. Some of the fiercest fighting since the Battle of Britain took place in a sweep over Northern France yesterday afternoon, said the Air Ministry news service. Our fighters destroyed two enemy aircraft and damaged i a number of others, and two more enemy aircraft were seen to collide in the air and were also destroyed. All the British planes engaged in the latest attack on Northern Italy returned safely, but in other operations, including the heavy attack on the Ruhr and raids on Northern France and the Low Countries, we lost ten bombers. In a fighter sweep over Northern France, few enemy fighters were encountered. One enemy plane was shot down. None of our aircraft are missing from this operation.

STRONG FORCE EMPLOYED AGAINST RUHR. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.22 a.m.) RUGBY, April 13. An Air Ministry communique states: “A strong force of our bombers made another heavy attack on industrial districts in the Ruhr last night. Objectives in Northern Germany and docks at Le Havre were also bombed. Enemy aerodromes in France and the Low Countries were attacked during the night by aircraft of the Bomber and Fighter Commands.” It also stated that British bombers were over Northern Italy. From these operations ten aircraft of the Bomber Command and one of the Fighter Command are missing.

RAID ON BRITAIN SMALL NUMBER OF PEOPLE INJURED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) RUGBY, April 13. It is reported officially that enemy’ aircraft dropped bombs on the South Coast of England this morning, slightly injuring a small number of people. BLAZE OF LIGHTS EXTINGUISHED SUDDENLY IN TURIN. AS BRITISH BOMBS FALL. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) RUGBY, April 13. Last night’s raid on Northern Italy, where Turin was the main objective, though not on a large scale, was of interest as being the first raid on this important industrial city, where the<Fiat works are situated, since last September. In that month two raids took place, on the nights of September 10 and 29. During the intervening six months, when high flying over the Alps is often’ impossible owing to icing conditions, the people of Turin evidently had become slack about air raid precautions. The city was a blaze of lights until , the first bomb dropped, shortly after 2 a.m., after which they were all turned out. This is not the first instance of the difficulty of enforcing air raid precautions in Italy, where air raid wardens are subject to martial law and blackout offences average a thousand a month in large towns, despite penalties ranging from fines of up to 2,000 lire to two months’ imprisonment. The only evidence that the Italians have any night fighters was a claim to have used them during one of the raids on Turin last September. Italian anti-aircraft fire was found to have diminished in intensity since the outbreak of war. This is explained in some quarters on the ground that Germany is not supplying Italy with the stipulated amount of ammunition. With the present heavy scale of R.A.F. raids on Germany this situation is likely to be intensified. All our planes returned.