YET AGAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 March 1943, Page 4

YET AGAIN

R.A.F. BOMBERS BLAST ST. NAZAIRE EVIDENCE OF HEAVY DAMAGE. DAYLIGHT ATTACKS ON LOW COUNTRIES. ■LONDON, March 29. A heavy and concentrated raid on the German U-boat base at St. Nazaire, on the • French Atlantic coast, was made last night by R.A.F. bombers. Two aircraft did not get. back. A pilot of a reconnaissance plane which flew over St. Nazaire this morning reported seeing a huge column of smoke rising to a height of 15,000 feet. The weather during the raid was excellent. Fires were so bright that aircraft, flying very high, could see other aircraft as far as 2000 yards away. The attack was remarkably concentrated and the flak was only slight. There were very few searchlights. The raid completed a weekend of devastating non-stop attacks, including raids on Duisburg, Berlin (the heaviest to date), Rotterdam, Rouen and Liege. An American, Major Sydney Bartlett, who travelled in a R.A.F. bomber as an observer in the shattering raid on Berlin said :“I saw the whole of Berlin vomit dust, smoke and steam. When we were 120 miles away from the city on the homeward journey, we could see a great red-hot glow.” An Australian pilot described the raid as “the best ever.” R.A.F. Ventura bombers, .with a fighter escort, today attacked shipping at Rotterdam for the second day running. The railway yards at Abbeville were also raided. All the planes returned. RAIDS ON BRITAIN SOME CASUALTIES & DAMAGE. ENEMY PLANE SHOT DOWN. \ LONDON, March 29. Over this country last night, a few enemy raiders dropped bombs on a place in East Anglia, doing some damage and injuring some people. Two enemy planes were shot down. In daylight today hit and run raiders bombed a place on the south coast of England. One raider was destroyed by a British fighter. The Berlin radio says the Luftwaffe last night dropped high-explosives and incendiaries on Norwich. BERLIN’S RUINS WORSE THAN THOSE OF LONDON. PEOPLE TRYING TO LEAVE CITY. (Received This Day, 11.10 a.m.) LONDON, March 29. The fires started during the R.A.F’s. raid on Berlin on Saturday night were still burning fiercely on Sunday, says a message received from Stockholm. A considerable area was completely devastated. Thousands of women and children yesterday morning crowded the stations, hoping to get a train for Southern Germany. Few trains were available and only a small number of people were able to leave. The “Aftonbladet” reported that the outlying residential sections of Berlin were considerably damaged. The Berlin radio’s own admissions, and reports received in Sweden, support the bombing crew’s descriptions of damage, especially in districts where many great war industries are situated. « It is stated in London that there is little doubt that Berlin’s bombed, blasted and fire-scorched ruins are now more terrible than those of London.