BERLIN HARD HIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 December 1943, Page 4

BERLIN HARD HIT

TWO-THIRDS OF CITY DESTROYED : .-,L ACCORDING TO SWEDISH CORRESPONDENTS. RETRIBUTION FOR FIRE RAID ON LONDON. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.45 a.m.) LONDON, December 30. Terrific damage was done throughout the city in the R.A.F.’s raid on Berlin last night, say neutral reports. Great fires are burning in areas previously untouched by the raiders; Last night was the third anniversary of the great fire raid on London, when the Guildhall was seriously damaged and eight churches built by Sir Christopher Wren were destroyed. Including last night’s attack, 12,000 tons of bombs have now been dropped on Berlin, making the capital the most heavily-bombed city in the world. Swedish correspondents report that more than two-thirds of Berlin has ( been destroyed. A Swedish reporter in Berlin telephoned to Stockholm an eye-witness account of the attack—the first time a correspondent has been permitted to send out details of a raid on the same night. He said heaps of ruins blocked the street outside his office. “Fires are visible all around the horizon,” he added, “and a great pall of smoke hangs over the city. All traffic in the city has stopped, and it shows no sign of starting again. The streets are blocked and damage is very heavy over the entire city."