Daily Post - 16.02.1943, Page 4

4
SUNDAY POS:
Simultaneous Raids On
Cologne And Milan
1.000 Tons Dropped On Lorient
London, February 15th.
R.A.F. bombers flew from Britain last night to deliver an-
other heawy two-pronged attack on the Axis, with Cologne and
Milan as the main targets.
We are still waiting for
R.A.F. crews to give more
news, but we know already
that both raids were heavy.
Inhabitants on the Channel
coasts reported this morning
that never before had they
heard such a thunderous roar of
engines as last night. All but
eleven planes returned safely
to their bases.
It has been announced, howe-
ver, that our planes were over
Cologne soon after 8 o’clock
last night, and that they deli-
vered a great weight of high ex-
plosive and incendiary bombs
in a raid lasting half an hour.
There were clouds over the tar-
get area, to which may perhaps
be attributed the fact that the
German ground defences did
not bark as fiercely as usual.
A number of enemy night
fighters came up, however.
Cologne is an important target
in our offensive against the U-
boats, having large factories
producing Diesel engines and
accumulators for submarines.
Last night’s raid was its 112th.
MILAN RAID
A couple of hours later our
heavies were over Milan, Italy’s
second largest city, giving it the
same treatment as Cologne had
already received, the only dif-
ference being that here the tar-
get area lay bathed in brilliant
moonlight. The Italians were
not able to put up any sort of
effective defence, and not a
\
single night fighter was
encountered. Huge fires were
started in the factory area, and
Rome Radio to-day admits
grave damage.
A number of our heaviest
bombers flew on to bomb Spe-
zia, 50 miles south-east of
Genoa, where the Italians build
a number of their submarines.
LORIENT
These attacks followed within
twenty-four hours Saturday
night’s tremendous raid on
Lorient, when our giant bomb-
ers dropped 1,000 tons on this
vital German U-boat base.
The R.A.F. attacked in two
waves, the first bombs bursting
at 10 p. m., and when the se-
cond wave came over, the
whole dock area was an unbro-
ken carpet of flame. It is poin-
ted out here that in the worst
raid on London, the Germans
dropped 450 tons on the city,
and as Lorient is by no means
a big town, the effect of a
thousand ton raid can better be
imagined than described. Nett-
leton, the V. C. Ace of Augs-
burg fame took part in the
raid.
This gigantic attack on Lori-
ent has convinced everybody
that the United Nations are
now going all out in their fight
against the U-boats. A part of
that offensive was the attack
at dusk some time ago on the
Burmeister and Wain Diesel
engine works at Copenhagen,
and reconnaisance pilots, who
have recently been over Den-
mark have brought back air
pictures, corroborating Swedish
reports that the Mosquitos in
that raid completely destroyed
at least eight departments of
the works, thereby upsetting
for at least six months their
production of Diesel engines,
the greatest in the world out-
side Germany.
Yesterday in daylight our
Mosquitos attacked German
war works in Tours, 130 miles
south-west of Paris. Simul-
taneous attacks were carried
out against a variety of targets,
ranging from Britanny to Hol-
land.
1 ..;■■■.. .. 1
REYKJABIO
That Night
in Rio
with
ALICE FAYE
DON AMECHE
CARMEN MIRANDA
and his band.
Nazis Attack
In Tunisia
Allieð Troops Forced Back
London, Feb. 15th.
A new battle is reported to
have broken out in Centrál
Tunisia, where the Germans at
seven o’clock yesterday mom-
ing launched a strong attack
west of Faid, some 70 miles
west of Sfax, with Axis tanks
forming the spearhead of the
assault, followed by infantry
and artillery, and supported by
divebombers.
The attack was mainly direc-
ted against the American posi-
tions, and was made from two
directions, westwards from
Faid, and also from the south.
Allied Tunisian messages re-
port that the American forces
retreated westwards, and that
at dusk the Axis troops had ad-
vanced 18 miles. The latest
news indicate that the Ameri-
cans now have got the situation
under control. Allied aircraft
were busy throughout the fight-
ing, in support of the land
troops. They also raided Mak-
nassi and Sened, as well as ene-
my vehicles and concentrations
of tanks. Fro mthese operations
only two Allied planes are mis-
sing.
The only news of the British
Eighth Army is that it is still
pushing on in the coastal sec-
tor, with the enemy doing what
he can in the way of demolition
and mining the roads. A
dispatch from a war correspon-
dent speaks of a new kind of
mine employed by the Ger-
mans, which is timed to go
off at any time in 23 days. Our
experts are already dealing
with it.
Allied planes raided airfields
in Crete over the week-end,
while Malta’s, train-busters are
still as busy as ever over Sicily
and southern Italy. A small
formation of enemy bombers
tried to raid Benghazi last
night, but was driven off, with
the loss of one aircraft, and
without having done any da-
mage.
London, Feb. 15th.
A three day debate on the
Beveridge Report is to be held
in Parliament in the near fu-
ture, it was announced today.
Remember the meetings in
the Church by the Lake. Tues-
day and Friday, 7. p. m. All are
Helsiuki Raid
London, Feb. 15th.
Finland has confirmed the re-
port from Berlin this morning
that Helsinki, the Finnish capi-
tal, was bombed last night,
presumably by Russian píanes.
We have, however, had no news
of such a raid from Moscow.
Rabaul HaM
London, Feb. 15th.
John Hind of the Australian
Broadcasting Commission in
his dispatch to-day reports íhat
the latest Allied raid on Rabaul
was made by 30 heavy bomb-
ers, wyho dropped thousands of
incendiaries and a good deal
of high explosives. Taking part
in the attack were Flying For-
tresses and Liberators, coming
over in four waves, and this
time concentrating on the har-
bour works and not on enemy
shipping. The big bombers ieft
the target area ringed with
flames.
In New Guinea, Austraiian
troops are mopping up enemy
stragglers trying to make their
way to Mubo after their heavy
defeat at Wau.
„Feeling The Way“
London, Feb. 15th.
In Burma there is no news
of land fighting over the week-
end, but Blenheims and fighters
attacked Japanese occupied vil-
lages north of Akyab, as well
as other objectives in the vicini-
ty-
The British Deputy C.-in-C.
India, General Alan Hartley to-
day said of the position in
Burma, that we were quietly
feeling our way, knowing that
we must not underestimate the
enemy. Our troops were learn-
ing how to deal with the Jap-
anese, particularly with their
“suicide defences“.
Rair Clips
Eygló
heartily welcome. R. Biering
Prip, speaker.