Evening star., 1943-05-24
RAF Drops 1000 Tons Of Bombs
On Dortmund> Nazi Factory City,
In Greatest Air Raid in Historv
h
80 Bombers Lost
In Resumption Of
Aerial Assault
By the Associs ted Press.

LONDON, May 24.-In the
greatest air attack in history,
the RAF dropped more than
1000 tons of bombs last night on
the great industrial and trans
port city of Dortmund and raid
ed other targets up ana down
the water-logged Ruhr Valley of
Germany. s.,
An Air Ministry communique. is
sued hours after its usual time, told
OF the assault and said the raid
was completed in an hour.
Scores of four and two ton bombs
diaries kindled vast blaZes in Dort-
mund, the smoke of which rose three
miles above the city of 100000.
The weight of explosives loosed
last night topped the previous record
or more than 1900 tons dumped
May II on Duisburg, also in the
Ruhr. The importance of Dort-
tnund had increased greatly recently
because the saturation battering of
Essen had caused the shifting to
Dortmund of many war industries.
Dortmund is % miles east of Essen.
The British lost 3S bombers. Re
turning pilots described the ham
mer blow as highly successful, al
though accurate observation was
obscured by clouds of smoke and
fame.
The raid was carried out in excel
lent weather.
Two-Hour Stop Parade.
The magnitude of last nights op-
erations became apparent early in
the evening when watchers on the
Channel coast saw the procession of
bombers pass nonstop for two
hours toward their targets.
It gave life to the words of Prime
Minister Churchill. before Congress
in Washington last week suggesting
that Germany and Italy might be
bombed out of the war:
"Opinion is divided as to whether
the use of air power could, by itself.
bring about the collapse of Germany
or Italy. The experiment is we'll
worth trying so long as other meth
DDS are not excluded. Well, there
is certainly no harm in finding out.
But, however that may be, we are
all agreed that the damage done to
the enemys war potential is enor-
NOUS
The assault on Dortmund-the
26th Of the war--Was the first
concentrated bombing since Mr.
Churchill.s address. The last pre-
vious attack on the city was made
May 4. when it was battered by
1850 tons of bombs A large part
Of the city was reported wiped out
at that time.
London quarters said the total Of
more than 1000 tons of bombs
dropped on Dortmund was almost
five times the amount dumped by
the Germans in their greatest raid
on London April is, l94l, which
was calculated at just under $50
tons.
1t was eight times the $50 tons
OF explosives dropped by Nazi air
men on Coventry. November IA,
1910. raid which killed 300 per-
sons and injured hundreds.
The Ruhr Valley, which cradles a
great percentage of Germany's coal,
coke and steel industries. already
was pock marked from one end to
the other by previous British raids
which has cut sharply into war pro-
duction.
700 Mile Round Trip Flight.
Dortmund is the easternmost city
of the Ruhr and the terminus OF
the Dortmund-Em Canal. 1t is the
main transportation outlet from the
Ruhr and the center OF the West
phalian coal basin.
To get to it. the Raj flew 700
miles round trip.
As the explosive and fire bombs
thumped down on the blazing city
the mighty German defenses all
but subsided.
One pilot who was among the
last to drop his cargo, said:
Single searchlights were waving
aimlessly about in the sky as if the
defenses could not stand up to the
weight of bombs. The fax became
so moderate it did not bother us"
Much of the attacking force was
Canadian and four of their bombers
were among the So lost.
The heaviest bombers in the British
hangers began their record d-breaking
effort to cripple Germany's war
potential month ago. when more
than 600 planes saturated Pilsen and
Mannheim. That was the strongest
force since the thousand bomber as
saults of last year.
The loss of 38 hombers was the
highest price paid by the Raj since
IS were lost at Pilsen and Mannheim.
During May. the Raj has been
over Germany 10 nights, four of
them in great strength. Berlin has
been attacked six times.
Germans Admit Damage.
The German communique. broad
cast by Berlin and heard by the
Associated Press. said considerable
damage to property was caused" by
enemy bomber formations" which
dropped numerous explosives and
incendiary bombs on Dortmund.
Casualties also were announced
The Germans claimed 80 planes
mostly four-engined bombers, were
shot down
They said Nazi bombers carried
out low-level surprise attacks in
daylight yesterday on Bournemouth
and Hastings. in South England
Last night, the Germans said they
raided ship building yards at
Sunderland, setting large fires.
The overnight activity followed
daylight RAF attacks on coke ovens
at Zeebrugge, Belgium. breaking a
24-hour lull during which London
also enjoyed its first alert-tree pc
riod Saturday night after six nights
OF spotty German raiding.
Only q small strafing expedition
against the coast Of Northern France
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