IN RISING POWER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 May 1943, Page 3

IN RISING POWER

ALLIED AIR OFFENSIVE ATTACKS ON GERMANY & CZECHOSLOVAKIA TARGETS INCLUDE BERLIN & RUHR. GREATEST BOMB TONNAGE YET DROPPED. LONDON, May 14. Home-based R.A.F. bombers were out over Europe again last night when they dropped the biggest tonnage of bombs ever carried in a single night. Targets were bombed in the Ruhr, in Czechoslovakia and in Berlin. On the preceding night tvhat was then the heaviest raid of the war was made on Duisburg.

Last’night the principal target was Bochum, in the Ruhr, where over 1000 tons of bombs were dropped. Bochum is a big transport centre and has large steel works. The raid was a concentrated one and there was a continuous rain of bombs for three-quarters of an hour. Immense fires were left burning.

No details have yet been made known about the targets raided in Czechoslovakia. The last raid there was that of a month ago. when four-engine bombers penetrated in force to the Skoda arms works. Last night’s raid on Berlin was made soon after midnight. The lakes round the capital stood out in the moonlight and served as a guide to the airmen. Bombs were seen to burst in the west and south-west parts of the city. Thirty-four bombers are missing from last night’s work. Fighter-bombers were also out in force over France and some passed into Germany on the hunt for transport targets. The great air offensive was continued today when Spitfires over France and Belgium shot down eight enemy fighters for the loss of one plane. According to the Germans, American four-engine bombers attacked the northwest coast of Germany. ■ ON RECORD SCALE AMERICAN DAY ATTACKS. ON KIEL AND OTHER TARGETS. LONDON, May 14. Allied aircraft are keeping up their great day and night offensive against Hitler’s European fortress from the north and south. United States heavy bombers today raided key points in Germany, Holland and Belgium. It was the largest force yet sent out in a single day. One formation flew unescorted to Kiel and another heavy bomber formation attacked targets at Antwerp. A third formation bombed the large fighter airfield and repair depot at Courtrai, in Belgium. American medium bombers, used for the first time, and of a type that cannot be disclosed, attacked industrial targets in North Holland. All of these medium bombers got back, although they were unescorted. The results of all four attacks were good. British, Dominion, American and other Allied fighters shot down at least 12 enemy fighters and many more were destroyed by the bombers themselves. Eleven bombers and four of the escorting fighters are missing.