Evening star., 1942-11-22
Turin Raid So HEAVY
Raj Has Difficulty
Locating Targets
200 to 300 WorpIones
Believed to Have Token
Port in Night Attack
By the Associated Press,

By the Associated Press
LONDON, Nov. 21.-A fiery
raid on Turin, the RATS heaviest
so far in its growing offensive
against Italy, spread such a
blanket of fire over the northern
arsenal city last night that the
raiders had difficulty finding
clear spaces for targets, the
British disclosed today.
This assault was comparable in
size to an average" raid on Ger
many, usually carried out by be-
tween 200 and 300 planes, well-in-
formed sources believed.
After giving Turin, the home Of
1taly's Fiat, Caproni bomber and
other war works, only two nights Of
respite from their devastating 2-ton
bombs, heavy RAF group returned
in good weather and, indicative of
the punishment loosed on the city,
one bomber group alone dropped 81
2-ton bombs and 10000 pounds of
incendiaries in just less than an
hour. This was an average OF one
2-ton bomb a minute and one 30
pound incendiary a second.
Ran Out of Target Space.
So thorough was the job, the Air
Ministry said, that the RAF bomb
ers ran out Of target space and
planes arriving in the later waves
had difficulty picking spots to drop
their bombs amid the explosions
and fires already started.
The captain of one four -engined
Halifax which reached Turin about
midway in the attack said he had
to make four dummy runs before
his bombardier could pick out clear
spots at which to aim.
Three of the bombers were
missing, a communique said.
German fighters were aloft all
the way from the French coast
deep into Southern France, the Air
Ministry said, but in spite of
weather made to order for inter-
ception-thick Clouds below the
bombers and a bright moon above
them-the Nazis had little sue
cess"
Three unsuccessful attacks were
made on a relatively slow Lancaster
in which an RAF wing commander
was flying. The bomber drove off
one JU-88 with one burst of gun
fire, outmaneuvered an ME-110
without a shot and, on the return
flight, dropped into cloud to avoid
another JU-88.
20 Reported Killed.
The exact results of the assault
could not be told, a communique
said. because dense smoke from
many fires" clouded the flyers OBJ
servation. The Rome communique,
however, said "incendiary bombs in
great quantities" fell in the center
of Turin, caused fires and damage,
killed 20 persons and wounded 120
A Canadian who flew in one of
several RCAF squadrons said the
smoke billowed almost to 5000 feet
and was so thick it appeared that
an oil dump had been set afire.
British observers said such mass
raids were proving an economical
way to strike at the foundations
OF Italy's war strength and that in
one month they had severely shaken
civilian morale in Northern Italy
This was the fourth raid in eight
nights on Italy and the tenth raid,
including one in daylight, in which
the RAF has smashed at such key
centers as Genoa, Milan, Savona
and Turin since October %.
The planes lost last night raised
to only 20 the total announced by
the RAF as the cost of the month
long offensive. British sources said
this was the result of woefully in
adequate Italian air and ground de-
fenses. One returning flyer said the
skies over Turin were scanned by
but one italian searchlight.