MORE NAZI WAILS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 June 1943, Page 4

MORE NAZI WAILS

OVER BATTLE OF THE RUHR

HORRORS BEYOND IMAGINATION

DENUNCIATIONS OF “TERROR

BOMBING.”

WAR FACTORIES REDUCED TO SHAMBLES.

(By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, Noon.) LONDON, June 24.

A procession of eyewitnesses from the Ruhr continues to speak ever the Berlin radio describing the horrors of bombing and denouncing “the British and American terror.” All the spokesmen emphasise the appalling damage and call on the population to show fortitude until retribution is possible.

The latest speaker. Hans von Platwo, referring .to what he himself called the Battle of the Ruhr, said: “It is worse than anything I have seen anywhere in this war. I saw Warsaw after it was conquered, I saw Calais, where every single house had to be stormed, I saw many Russian towns which were transformed into fortresses and which accordingly were bombed and shelled, but what I have seen at every step in Western Germany is worse than anything. Never have such bestial means been used with such bitterness in the air war as the British and Americans are now using. It is important to note that the British seem lately to have abandoned their old thesis that victory cannot be won in the air. They now seem to think that their present terror methods will achieve their aims.’’ A German radio commentator, • summing up the Battle ■of the Ruhr, declared: “It simply goes beyond human imagination. Nobody who has not seen it can have even the faintest notion of it. These are real blows. The people of Western Germany now find themselves in the very first line of the front. They look eye to eye with death. Their fight is made more difficult by their realising that they are condemned to passivity.” An eyewitness of the Oberhausen raid, broadcasting from the German freedom radio, said: “People who survived the raid look like walking shadows. The iron works and most of the foundries are a complete shambles. Hundreds of night shift workers were killed. Only charred ruins are a witness to Oberhausen's terrifying night.”

DEAD CITY “KILLED IN A NIGHT.” GRIM PICTURES OF RUHR DEVASTATION. (Special P.A. Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, June 24. The bombing of the Ruhr is featured in British national newspapers, which publish large photographs of a big area of Dusseldorf, shewing the toll taken by R.A.F. bombs. One caption states: “This is the most terrible picture ever published cf the destructive power of the bombing aeroplane.” The photographs were taken a week after the raid. “Some fires were still smouldering,” it is stated, “but still more grim is the fact that a close examination shows a dead city. It was killed in a night.” The 75th (New Zealand) Squadron took part in the latest raid against Mulheim, in addition to New Zealanders in other squadrons. “The Times” diplomatic correspondent states that even outside the devastated areas the power of the R.A.F. is weighing on many German minds with nearly as much strength as the Russian armies obsessed them six months ago. After hesitating whether or not to belittle the raids, me authorities are now releasing news about the spreading devastation, in order to brace the people to a sense of danger. All emphasis is put on the damage to houses and flats. By an equal distortion of facts, the Ruhr and the Lower Rhine are said to have little industrial value, owing to the dispersal of industry. Newspapers such as the “Berliner Borzen Zeitung” declare that the R.A.F. campaign is a stab in the back—using a phrase which for twenty years has covered the blockade of the last war and disintegration at home, and is supposed to exonerate the German armies from responsibility for defeat.

Squadron Leader W. V. C. Crompton, of Auckland, who last week returned to operations as a squadron leader supernumerary, has led a wing for the first time. He accompanied the Flying Fortresses to Huis. Squadron Leader’ Compton said: “We saw thirty to forty Focke-Wulfs 190 which were preparing to attack the Fortresses from the port side. Our wing turned into them and they dived away. Every time we tried to attack, the Focke-Wulfs weren’t having any, and we were able to bring back the Fortresses unmolested.” Wing Commander Deere led another wing protecting Fortresses in this same operation.

“NUISANCE RAIDS” REPORTED BY GERMANS. (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) LONDON, June 24. The German News Agency says a few enemy aircraft last night made isolated nuisance raids over the Reich. Bombs were dropped on fields near a West German town. No damage was caused. AXIS HYPROCRISY EXHIBITION OF PHOTOGRAPHS. OF DAMAGED “MONUMENTS OF EUROPEAN CULTURE.” (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) LONDON, June 24. The German radio states that an exhibition of photographs of air raid damage has been opened in Vienna, showing the destruction of monuments of European culture. Hundreds of pictures have been taken, both in German and Italian cities, to show what is left of buildings built over hundreds of years.