SPLENDID WORK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 November 1943, Page 4

SPLENDID WORK

DONE BY PATHFINDERS IN RAID ON FRANKFURT. TARGETS MARKED OUT CLEARLY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) RUGBY, November 26. Crews of the Bomber Command Pathfinder force found thick cloud three miles deep when they arrived over Frankfurt last night. They had to struggle for 450 miles through icy clouds, but reached the target at zero hour, a little before 3 a.m. By the time the main force, mostly HalifaXes, came, the objectives were brilliantly coloured by flares laid by the Pathfinders. The attack was completed within half an hour. Most of the crews reached Frankfurt without seeing fighters, and though the Germans laid a flare path into the target, few enemy aircraft were encountered over the town. Searchlights were unable to locate the bombers through the cloud. It was one of the coldest nights for weeks, but the weather was brilliantly clear above the clouds, where a temperature of 36 degrees below zero was registered. The German news agency stated that British bombers last night made a terror raid on Frankfurt and also on Offenbach. The old town of Frankfurt was particularly heavily hit. Offenmach, the sister town of Frankfurt, has a chemical factory and an extensive leather goods industry. Frankfurt suffered three heavy attacks last month. Last night’s w r as Frankfurt’s .fortieth raid of the war.