MUCH HAVOC

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 July 1943, Page 4

MUCH HAVOC

WROUGHT BV FLYING FORTRESSES IN ATTACKS ON AXIS AIR BASES IN FRANCE. BUILDINGS AND AIRCRAFT DESTROYED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10 a.m.) RUGBY, July 15. Heavy damage was inflicted on three important German bases in Fiance when formations of Flying Fortresses struck Villa Coublay, Le Bourget and Amiens on Wednesday, according to a statement from the United States Army headquarters in London. A study of reconnaissance photos taken after the smoke of the bomlfmg had cleared away shows widespread destruction among hangars, shops, _ grounded planes and runways. For instance at Villa Coublay, eight miles south of the centre of Paris, a large aircraft works and an airfield received a concentration of over 400 bursts. Two large hangars were demolished and three others and two aircraft repair shops were partly destroyed. In the attack on targets near Amiens it is believed that many grounded planes were destroyed in their hangars. This area, which was completely blanketed by bombs, apparently served the Nazis as a bomb storage centre, for there were tremendous explosions following the attack.