HEAVY ATTACK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1942, Page 3

HEAVY ATTACK

ON PRINCIPAL FRENCH ARMAMENT WORKS MADE BY LANCASTERS IN DAYLIGHT accurate and destructive bombing. ONLY ONE PLANE LOST OUT OF 94. LONDON, October 18. Heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force yesterday _ carried out the biggest daylight attack of the war, when a large force of Lancasters bombed the vast Schneider-Creusot works —the French equivalent of Krupps’ of Essen —at le Creusot, 170 miles south-east of Paris.

The bombers flew without escort to the target over 300 miles of Germanoccupied territory, yet the raid was not only the biggest, but also the least costly, as only one bomber failed to return. The bombers went over the target singly from 6 p.m., with perfect timing. An Air Ministry communique states that all the bombs were dropped within seven minutes. Many fires broke out, and shortly afterwards a large explosion occurred. , j One formation of bombers attacked a power station supplying the factoiy. The only aircraft lost out of the total of] 94 bombers taking part was lost in the} latter attack. One Lancaster was at-] tacked by three enemy planes while on its return journey. It shot down two into the sea. The facts show that a bomb was dropped every 41 seconds. Each Lancaster carries a load of eight tons of bombs. The aircraft did not attack in formation, but went in separately, with perfect timing, from a height of 4000 feet. The first squadron over the target was led by Wing Commander L. C. Slee. , „„„ The Creusot arms works cover Ml acres, and are the largest and most important of the international Schneider cartel. They had been making German pattern guns of very heavy calibre, and also locomotives, machine tools and armour-plate. The Germans during the Battle of France avoided bombing the works. The Air Ministry says that Le Creusot has no features or landmarks for night navigation, and the town is small and congested, so a night attack would have inflicted great losses on the French civilian population. Fighters this morning shot down an enemy bomber off the French-coast. Flying over the Channel yesterday afternoon, two New Zealand pilots of the Fighter Command saw bombs drop on the south-east coast. A few moments later they spotted two Focke-Wulfs racing for home low down over the sea, and they concentrated on one and shot it down in the Channel after a 10-mile pursuit.