DETAILS OF RAIDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 August 1943, Page 3

DETAILS OF RAIDS

ITALIANS ADMIT VERY HEAVY DAMAGE. IN BOTH MILAN & TURIN. (Received This Day, 11.40 a.m.) LONDON, August 13. The Commander of the North African Strategic Air Force, Major James Doolittle, who led the air raid on Tokio last year and the first raid against Rome, was in command of today’s attack on Rome. The raid was confined to the San Lorenzo and San Littorio marshalling yards, which were attacked in the first Rome raid. Both yards recently had been handling large German troop movements. Flying Fortresses raided the San Lorenzo yards while waves of Mitchells and Marauders attacked the San Littorio yards. Lightning fighters escorted the bombers. The attack in many respects was a duplication of the first raid, when over 500 planes participated. The pilots were especially briefed to prevent the bombing of any target not of military value. Many of the bomber pilots and crews were Roman Catholics, as in the first raid.

The Rome radio stated that the raid lasted ninety minutes, the alert being sounded at exactly eleven a.m. “The planes flew over the city in successive waves at a great height. The antiaircraft defences immediately went into action. Many bombs fell in the Tuscalano-Tiburtino area, which was devastated in the first raid, and the Madonna Dei Loroto Church was seriously damaged.” The radio said the Pope visited the bombed areas immediately. After the raid an Italian communique stated: “Bomber formations renewed their attack against Rome and the surrounding airfields. The damage is‘being ascertained. The British air force last night bombed Milan and Turin and caused very heavy damage, especially in the central areas of the two cities. The Berlin radio said: “Allied planes flew over Milan, in successive waves, and dropped a great weight of bombs in the centre of the city. The buildings hit included the Milan Cathedral, the Archbishop’s Palace and the Vittorio Emmanuele Gallery. Three of Milan’s principal streets were completely wiped out.”

Reuter’s correspondent on the Italian frontier reports that the Milan railway station was temporarily put out of action in last night’s raid. The telephone service also suffered. No goods trains were running between Milan and Chiasso, on the Swiss frontier, but passenger trains are still running. The “Exchange-Telegraph’s” Algiers correspondent says a notable increase in air opposition was encountered yesterday over Italy. Allied planes attacking airfields in South Italy encountered a formation of 25 to 30 Axis planes. The Allies at another point in South Italy met 20 to 30 defending planes, nine of which were shot down. A new Allied target was the Grazzanise aerodrome, north of Naples, where bombs burst among a large'number of planes on the ground. Seven intercepting fighters were shot down over this target.