Evening star., 1942-10-12
Lille Raid vindicated
Heavy j. 5. Bombers,
London Paper Says
Germans Strike at British
Southeast Coast, Killing
-Four, Injurine Several
By the Associated Press


LONDON, Oct. l2.-Friday's
Furnishing raid on Lille by big
American four-motored bomb
ers-Fortresses and Liberators+
IN which at least los German
tighter planes were destroyed or
damaged was declared by the
London Daily Express today to
have been "vindication" of
American aircraft engineering.
Tne Express, whose air CORE
spondents have been most doubtful
OF the ability of the United States
heavy bombers to carry out day
raids. said in an editorial:
There has been some criticism of
American designers who, in produc-
Ing the Fortresses, sacrificed bomb
load capacity for gun power and
armor.
"This Gille) triumph is vindi-
cation OF their policy and an answer
to their critics"
Bombers Kill Four Persons.
Single Nazi raiders attacking a
Southeast coast town about noon to-
day killed at least four persons and
injured several others when bombs
hit houses and shops. Rescue parties
dug into debris for others believed
trapped in f1attened buildings.
German raiders made their first
night attack on Britain since Sep
tember 26 last night, bombing scat
tered localities on the Northeast
coast and causing some casualties
and damage. The German radio
said Sunderland was the objective
of the biggest night attack.
Of11cial reports, however, declared
only small number of planes parti-
cipated in the raids, which failed to
live up to German threats of devas-
tating reprisals for recent smashing
air attacks on Germany.
Raj Attacks Hanover.
There was no indication OF any
overnight activity by the RAF, which
struck at Hanover yesterday in
series OF daylight forays against tar
gets in Western Germany and Occu-
pied France.
43rd on that city since the beginning
OF the war, but the first since August
l. The city, halfway between Ger
mans western frontier and Berlin, is
an important railway and industrial
center of about 100000 population.
The RATS attack on Occupied
France was centered in targets near
st. Omer and Abbeville and was
carried out from low levels, the Air
Ministry said. Three fighters and
two bombers were lost in the days
operations.
New Problem for Nazis.
The American raid on Lille, which
inflicted the heaviest defeat on the
German air force since Dieppe, ap-
pears to have presented the Ger
mans with the necessity of revising
entirely their methods of defense.
The Fortress and Liberators flew
in tight, bristling formations and
were aided by new technique in
the use Of their 50O-plane fighter
escorts.
This American victory ranked
with the known destruction of 81
Nazi planes during the nine-hour
Dieppe operation August 10, and was
doubly significant in that only four
of the American bombers were lost
Friday while the Allies lost SO planes
in cooperation with the Dieppe
landing.
Considering the significance of
this score, Allied airmen wondered
II Hitler would not have to revise
his whole aerial strategy to try to
stop the big bombers.
The cumulative effect of the two
shattering defeats. piled on top of
the day-to-day attrition of Western
European air war, will drive the
Fuehrer to force his aircraft manu-
facturers to new pitch of activity
and at the same time demand of
his designers and strategists quick
solution of the problem presented
by the thirteen .50-caliber guns of
the Fortress and the armament of
the Liberators, it is generally be-
lieved.
Flying in tight VS. Of three, the
-bombers are able to bring the con-
verging fire of their guns on fight
ers attacking from any angle, and
the resulting concentration of fire
is such that no known fighter plane
can match it.
Reports Of the crews returning
from Lille indicated that the Ger
man fighters-mainly Focke-Wulf
1905 and Messerschmitt 109F's, the
best the NaZis have-tried every
conceivable maneuver in an effort
to get close enough to fire effective
bursts from their 20-millimeter can
non.
Gunners said the Nazis peeled off
from their formations, not singly,
but in twos and threes, and flew
straight at the bomber tails in an
effort to knock out this defense
point by presenting too many targets
for the rear gunner to deal with.
Fighters Forced Away.
But the twin 50-caliber, high
velocity guns had sufficient range
usually to force the fighters to turn
away short of effective shooting dis