ANOTHER RUHR CITY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 June 1943, Page 3

ANOTHER RUHR CITY

POUNDED BV BRITISH BOMBERS DAMAGING ATTACK ON OBERHAUSEN DAY & NIGHT OPERATIONS. SMALL-SCALE AXIS RAIDS GN BRITAIN. LONDON, June 15. The R.A.F. Bomber Command is methodically battering one great industrial town in the Ruhr - after another. Last night it struck at Oberhausen, which has a population of 200,000 and lies between Duisburg and Essen, in the densely built up western half of the Ruhr Basin. Oberhausen has one of the largest iron and steel works in Germany, covering 500 acres . Oberhausen also has large chemical factories' and is an important centre of communications. Captains of the crews taking part in the raid state that the attack was accurate and concentrated. Big fires were started. On the way to Oberhausen it was intensely cold, with a good deal of icing on the wings of the planes. Over the target, the conditions were better. A bright moon made the weather ideal for night fighters, which were up in force. One Lancaster fought off four enemy fighters and went on to make a steady bombing run.

Eighteen bombers are missing from the night’s operations, which included attacks on other targets in the Ruhr and mine laying in enemy waters. Over a wide area today in Northern France and the Low Countries intruder aircraft were out attacking airfields, trains and barges. Two German aircraft caught over their base in Holland were shot down. Spitfires over Northern France destroyed three enemy planes. Raiders came over the east and south-eastern coasts of Britain and dropped bombs at scattered poifits. A small number of people were killed in one London district. . In raids on Britain last month 584 civilians were killed and over 700 were injured seriously enough to be taken to hospital. r

RATTLE BOMBS USED IN LATEST LUFTWAFFE EFFORT. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, June 15. In the first real anti-personnel raid, enemy bombers on Sunday night over a town on the east coast of England dropped many hundreds of 9in. “rattle” bombs, which are designed to prevent civil defence workers from doing their work. An Air Raid Precautions controller said that these bombs splinter into hundreds of small pieces, and pierce windows and doors with holes the size of bullets. They are called rattle bombs because they resemble a child's rattle. The raid is considered to have been an attempt by the Luftwaffe to cause the greatest moral and material damage with the smallest number of planes. ' Last night again a few raiders were over England, coming in over East Anglia and the south-east coast. London had two short alerts and the aircraft defences opened up. The Air Ministry states that bombs caused slight damage in one place and a few people were killed.