Evening star., 1940-07-07
British Air Raids
Harass Popu|ace Of
RhineIand and Ruhr
Anger Rising in Bombed
Section, Newsmen Find
On Germun Tour
By PRESTON GROVER,

HSSOS4ete0 fifos Wet NOIlcspOHueHt.
BERLIN, July GA 1,400-mile
trip through the Ruhr and Rhine
Valleys discloses that Britain's
nightly air raids are harassing the
industrial population and taking a
considerable toll of lives.
The trip, for the foreign press In
Berlin, was arranged by the Propa-
ganda and War Ministries for the
purpose of supplying evidence to
support the repeated official asser-
ton that the British are not bomb
ing military objectives.
In the cities we visited we were
able to see no evidence Of actual
damage to a military objective, and
the German officers accompanying
the party insisted that mot single
one" had been hit. In several places
bombs obviously had fallen in the
vicinity of substantial military OBJ
jectives. however.
Death Toll Around 100.
Deaths in cities which we visited
totaled around 100, with perhaps $50
to 300 wounded and possibly 300
dwellings damaged or destroyed.
We were not taken to Essen, where
the British claim to have damaged
the great Krupp Works, but we saw
such heavily industrialized cities as
Duisburg, Dusseldorf and Cologne,
as well as a number of less impor-
tant centers.
The story was about the same in
each Of the cities: One to 80 or more
houses damaged. one to 30 civilians
reported killed, more injured.
In each city, municipal officials
met the newspaper party and con-
Quoted us to spots which, we were
told, had been bombed.
In Duisburg we were shown
damaged church; in Dusseldorf an
old peoples home; elsewhere, a row
OF wrecked private residences.
At Hamm, the officials demon
strated residential districts, which.
they said, were mile or more from
industrial or rail points.
Population Nervous.
However, a woman on the out
skirts of Duisburg told us three
bombs had been dropped on the rail-
way station in that city. Oficials
said that was not true.
1t was evident in many instances
that the population was feeling the
results of nervous and physical ia
tigue from rushing to cellar shelters
around l o'clock each morning.
In Wesel the burgomaster con-
ceded candidly that the effect of the
bombings was to disrupt business.
I'VE can't work while all this Is
going on" he said. These continu-
GUS raids upset all business
In the Ruhr the raids are so reg
ular that many families 60 to their
bomb cellars around midnight every
night, in advance of the raids. The
air-raid sirens almost invariably
sound half an hour to an hour later.
People Getting Angry.
People, too, were getting angry.
In one city minor official leaped
into our car to shout: Wen get
even with the British"
However, the factories which we
were shown seemed to be working
steadily. With scarcely an excep-
ton, smoke was pouring from fac
tory chimneys.
On the Rhine, placid, pretty
Godesberg, where then Prime Min
lister Chamberlain of England and
Adolf Hitler met in 1898, was not
even touched.
Charge Military Points Ignored.
DNB, official German news agen-
cy, said tonight that of 191 British
air raids on Holland 80 per cent of
them were on cities and villages
where no military objectives are
located"
Qn Amsterdam earlier, Air
Corps Gen. Friedrich Christian
sen, German military commander
in Holland, had charged that the
character of British bombing at
tacks proved that Britain was
obtaining information from
Dutch territory
DNB's statistics showed that the
raids had killed 103 persons, injured
Al, destroyed SO homes, 2 schools
and 3 hospitals and damaged 2
churches and 176 dwellings.
In seven cases, the agency said,
British flyers bombed and machine
gunned trains with civilian passen-