ATTACKS ON HEART OF CITY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21216, 12 September 1940, Page 8

ATTACKS ON HEART OF CITY

INCENDIARY BOMB STRIKES THE REICHSTAG MANY FIRES STARTED RAILWAY STATION HIT (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 11 What is believed to be the most intense air raid Berlin has yet undergone took place early this morning, says the Berlin correspondent of the British United Press. One incendiary bomb struck the Reichstag, which was burned down in 1933 and since partly rebuilt. The alarm lasted from 11.55 last night to 1.47 a.m. The raiders circled over the centre of the city at a low altitude for at least 30 minutes. The heart of the city was bombed and numerous fires were started, state American correspondents in messages to their newspapers. So many parachute flares were dropped by the British airmen to light up their objectives that a newspaper could be read in any street. The East-West Axis, or the Avenue of Splendour, which was designed by Hitler himself, was torn up by bombs. The Potsdam railway station in the heart of Berlin was heavily and repeatedly bombed by the Royal Air Force during the night, states an Air Ministry communique this morning. Many heavy high-explosive bombs and several hundred incendiary bombs were dropped. The Potsdam station is one of Berlin’s main railway termini.

Direct Hits Made The attack was carried out with great precision. Although there was a ground haze, * the station was located by the British aircraft, and at 11.45 they began the attack. The pilots of all the machines engaged report direct hits on the station buildings and yards. Most of them glided down through the heavy barrage of anti-aircraft fire to make their attack. Showers of incendiary bombs started many fires. The machines left for home when they had released their bombs. This time the extent of the damage in the centre of Berlin is so obvious that the German news agency has been compelled to give some details of the raid. The agency states that many fires were started and much damage was caused to hospitals, hotels, Government buildings, and to business and residential quarters. Works of art were destroyed. In several cases the walls of buildings have been pushed in. Whole streets have had to be evacuated. The agency adds that there were five deaths and several people were injured. Other reports say that the buildings hit included a police station and the Academy of Art. Two bombs fell in the middle of the Unter den Linden, immediately in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The flash of the first bomb lit up the famous gate as though it were daylight. Windows in near-by offices rattled and blue smoke rolled along the Unter den Linden. A high-explosive bomb fell 100 yards from the former French Embassy and sent plumes of smoke and sparks over 200 feet into the air. An incendiary bomb crashed through a house next to the United States Embassy, only 100 yards from the Welhelm Platz. The Embassy was not damaged. An official German communique says that bombs struck an art academy in the heart of the city, the premises of the German Engineers' Union, the Hedwigs Hospital, and residential and business property. No mention is made in the German communique of damage to the Potsdam station. The communique concludes: “ The Germans did not want this war. England is now getting the war she wanted. She is now feeling the might of the German sword.”