REDUCED TO RUINS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 June 1943, Page 3

REDUCED TO RUINS

GREAT SCHNEIDER FACTORY IN FRANCE WHOLE BLOCKS OF BUILDINGS RAZED. MANY GERMAN TECHNICIANS MISSING. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, June 22. As a result of the R.A.F. raid on Saturday night, the huge Schneider arms factory at Le Creusot is a mass of blackened, twisted girders,

and flaming ruins, says the “Daily Express” correspondent at Geneva.

Many of the German technicians are missing, being probably buried under the wreckage, he says. Whole blocks of build.ngs, including foundaries, presses and construction sheds, have vanished, and not a single building is intact. The fire was still spreading nearly 48 hours after the attack.

The town has suffered from bombblast, and scarcely a house remains roofed. Reports from Vichy state that 250 persons were killed. Other sources state that hundreds saved their lives by heeding a warning which was broadcast from the Fighting French radio and took shelter immediately the sirens sounded. The Paris radio declared: “The centre of Le Creusot is no more than a heap of rubble, with embers still smoking. The damage is enormous, and more than 15,000 persons, which is half the population, have been rendered homeless. Special relief trains have been dispatched, consisting of a series of coaches each adapted to a special use; each train contains a mobile kitchen which can serve meals at the rate of 300 an hour, and also carries a supply of clothing.” The radio stated that the supplying of bread was a difficult task, because all the bakeries had been put out of action. NERVES IN GERMANY. The Berlin radio said that the raid lasted for 45 minutes and caused almost complete destruction of the town. The German announcer, in describing also the state of the “high nervous tension” which has been caused in Germany by the Allied raids, said: “Most people have a suitcase packed ready for emergencies. Great hardships and great problems have been caused everyone by the increasing AngloAmeycan terror raids against Germany. Lodgings are getting scarcer and the clothing problem is acute. We have behind us a winter which has tried our nerves to the utmost and demanded extreme concentration of our powers.”