DAY & NIGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1943, Page 3

DAY & NIGHT

4 AIR ATTACKS ON GERMANY AND ON OCCUPIED AREAS. CHEMICAL WORKS NEAR COLOGNE BLASTED. LONDON, August 23. Early this morning and late this evening Allied aircraft kept up their attacks on airfields and communications in German-occupied .Europe. Formation after formation of bombers, with a strong fighter escort, were seen returning to their bases from the direction of Calais. Early this morning, Spitfires and medium bombers were seen in a steady procession heading for Northern France. The marshalling yards at St. Omer were attacked. Not a single German fighter came up to challenge the raiders. In another area, a formation of Canadian Spitfires encountered 50 Messerschmitts and shot down one of them. Another force of R.A.F. fighters destroyed a Junkers 88 over the North Sea.

In a raid on the Rhineland last night, chemical works near Cologne were attacked. The clouds over the target were very heavy and gave protection to the attacking planes from the ground defences, which put up a blind barrage. Large fires were caused and there was one great explosion. Two enemy fighters were shot down. Five of our aircraft are missing. The Berlin radio says a major enemy bomber formation attacked Western Germany last night and bombs scattered over a wide area, damaging buildings in a number of areas, particularly Dusseldorf. NEW WEAPON USED AGAINST ALLIED BOMBERS. ROCKETS FIRED FROM PLANES. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 22. The crews of the Flying Fortresses which raided Regensburg, in Bavaria, last week, and then flew on to Africa,

have returned. Some say they were under fighter attack for three hours and a half, and that the Germans used every kind of plane. They also tried something new —largo twin-engined planes which fired rockets at the Fortresses. One pilot said that three Fortresses were shot down round his plane. Many German fighters were also destroyed. The pilot of one Fortress flew over the Alps with one engine out of order, and landed with 30 holes in his plane. Study of air photographs of Krupp’s works after the air attack of July 25 has convinced the R.A.F. photographic interpretation unit that the damage done on that night was as serious a blow to the works as all the damage done in previous attacks.this year. One hundred and ten buildings, many of them large essential workshops, were hit in this heaviest raid on Germany’s largest armament works. Fire caused the greatest havoc and fires were still out of control 36 hours later, though a strong and experienced fire-fighting service must have been available. AT SHORT NOTICE ATTACK ON RHINELAND. ' BATTLES WITH NIGHT FIGHTERS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 23. Only at a comparatively late hour in the evening was it finally decided to carry out an attack on objectives in the Rhineland, including the chemical works at Leverkusen. There was scattered cloud along the route, which thickened when the bombers were on their last lap. Although it was too dark to observe the full results of the bombing, the clouds were seen glowing from the light of fires underneath, and soon .after the attack had begun there was a great explosion, which was reflected on the clouds for several seconds. When the bombers were on their way back night fighters had a chance, states the Air Ministry news service. A half moon helped the German pilots to find our aircraft. There were several'combats. One Lancaster had three separate encounters within a few minutes.