HEAVILY DAMAGED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 June 1943, Page 3

HEAVILY DAMAGED

AXIS RADIO-LOCATION WORKS

ON SHORES OF LAKE CONSTANCE

SUCCESSFUL ATTACK MADE BY LANCASTERS.

ALL MAIN BUILDINGS HIT.

LONDON, June 21.

The R.A.F. last night penetrated to Southern Germany and attacked a radio location works at Friedrickshafen, on the shores of Lake Constance. The raid is known to have caused extensive damage.

A force of Bomber Command fourengine Lancasters made the attack. Photographs taken of the damage show that all the main buildings were hit. The works were bombed early in the war by the French. They were once famous for turning out Zeppelins. The establishment is still being extended and a half-built workshop was one of the* buildings hit. The works are by far the largest producers of radio location equipment in Germany. Germany has never been so dependent on radio location as she is now, under day and night bombing by the R.A.F.

The British United Press Berne correspondent says Allied planes made a short, heavily-concentrated attack on Friedrichshafen early this morning. Fires and explosions were visible from Switzerland.

PICTORIAL PROOF OF HAVOC IN RUHR WAR CENTRES WUPPERTAL & DUSSELDORFF. LONDON, June 21. Reconnaissance planes have brought back photographic proof that more than 1,000 acres of Wuppertal were wiped out in Bomber Command’s attack about three weeks ago. Wuppertal was hit particularly hard, as it is closely packed in a narrow valley. The Air Ministry also has photographic proof that a further 100 acres in Dusseldorf! has been devastated as the result of a R.A.F. raid ten days ago. Previously, 1,000 acres had been laid waste.

NO INSURANCE AGAINST BOMB DAMAGE IN GERMANY. WHOLE LOSS TO BE BORNE BY OWNERS. LONDON, June 21 The German War Damage Department has announced its inability to accept insurance against war risks of any buildings and other real estate. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says an official order states: “It is necessary because of wide misunderstanding to emphasise that this is impossible. Only goods in transport can be insured against war damage.” This emphatic new order, which is obviously the result of the vast scale of destruction recently, specially in the Ruhr districts, has created consternation among owners whose property has been demolished. They are obliged to bear the whole loss themselves. Rhineland newspapers dwell on the first claims to war relief of the masses of people who have been driven from the industrial district, and are now without a roof. They urge that the people throughout Germany must realise that this is a problem affecting the whole country, and is not a local problem.

'The evacuation problem is complicated by the fact that the war workers •who have been bombed out of Rhineland and Ruhr towns must be got back to work there again or removed to similar work elsewhere. “The Times” adds that reports show that a high degree of disorder prevails because of the breakdown of organised evacuation, plans. One German description says that the bombing catastrophe has produced dire distress in extensive districts, and that conflicting Government orders have enhanced the disorder. The authorities urge the people to realise the impossibility of keeping families together “at this stage of the war,” and German newspapers are now publishing articles deploring the prevalence of grumblers. The people are told that grumbling and half-hearted-ness will prolong the war.