Evening star., 1943-06-22
7O0RAF Bombers Raid KrefeId
Losing "A Planes in Big Attack;
Fortresses Hammer Ruhr Area
Assault on RhineIond
Center Is One of
Wars Heaviest
Ey the Associated Press.

laSU nlg0J OedlJ one OF ltS nedV-
lest blows at Krefeld, important
German Rhineland city near
DuiSburg and Dusseldorf, and a
large force of American Flying
FortreSSeS attacked the Ruhr
area in daylight today.
In the assault on Krefeld the Brit
1Sh lost A bombers-the heaviest for
any single attack this year-but an
Air Ministry communique which de-
scribed the raid as very heavy and
concentrated" and delivered in
great strength" Later it was dis
closed that more than 700 heavy
bombers took part in the raid.
Today's daylight assault on the
Ruhr was the first made by Ameri-
can bombers on this vital area so
often smashed by heavy British
night raiders.
The Americans also attacked tar
gets in Nazi-occupied Belgium.
Great Industrial Area.
The Ruhr is, about so miles long
and 40 miles wide, and it produces
roughly about three-fourths of Ger
man coal, four -hfths of her coke
and about two-thirdS of her iron
and steel.
Fiftv-tWo bombers were lost in
the 1000 plane attack on Bremen
on June Is, 1912, and A were lost
over Cologne on May 80, 1912, in the
first of he 10OO-bomber attacks.
Two weeks ago 43 bombers of the
greatest attacking force yet sent
over Germany four-engined
planes-fa;led to return from an
attack on Dusseldorf and MuenSter
These were the RATS greatese losses.
krefeld, an important textile and
railway center near the Neither
lands border, is noted for its man.
ufacture of special steels for air.
craft armor plate and its output OF
sulphuric acid for explosives.
1t is located just within the Ger
man border, about 25 miles south
west of Duisburg and 20 miles north
west of Dusseldorf
22d Raid on Krefeld.
The raid was the 22d on the city
silce the beginning of the war, but
the first in l943. 1t was last hit
in october.
The German communique, re-
corded from Radio Berlin by the
Associated Press. said numerous
blocks of buildings and two hos
pitfalls were destroyed at krefeld in
an explosive and fire raid which
caused much damage, especially in
residential quarters" The Germans
said they destroyed 80 bombers,
The cluster of German industrial
centers within a 20-mile stretch of
the Rhineland. represented by Kre-
field, Duisburg and Dusseldorf. has
now been visited by total of 135
catastrophe raids, the Air Ministry
said.
The Krefeld raid was the RAF' S
second successive night assault on
Germany and the first attack on
the Rhineland since June Is, when
Cologne was hit. Fourteen bombers
were lost in that raid.
Fighters on intruder patrols over
France and Belgium also attacked
railway targets and the airfeld at
Polk, the communique said
Germans Attack London.
The Germans. meanwhile. sent
the heaviest attacking force in sew
eral weeks against London and Brit
ish coastal objectives, damaging
some property in London and caus-
ing a number of casualties.
More than score of Nazi night
raiders headed up the east and
south coasts and then scattered in
land, but observers said that not
more than two or three reached the
Greater London area.
The nights RAF foray followed
by "a hours raid, involving flight
of about 1000 miles over the dark
ened continent without loss of a
plane. on the South German city of
Friedrichshafen.
The target was the Luftschiffbau
factory, where Nazi technicianS turn
out the German equivalent of radar
radio-detection device now used
with such success by the United
States and Britain to locate enemy
air and naval craft. The Air Min
istry said all main buildings were
heavily damaged
With the Britain based Allied air
fleets steadily wearing away the
once vaunted Nazi air force and
knocking out replenishment fac
tories one by one, operational flights
into Europe already are becoming
increasingly safer and the RATS
FrledrichShafen attack. with all
bomberS returning, represented the
deepest penetration yet accom-
pliShed without loss.
Must Extend Stations.
The massive day and night raids,
the Air Ministry said last night,
have made it imperative for the
NaziS to extend the number of their
radio-location stations and keep
them up to date-a goal which it is
Just as important for the Allied air
arm 10 fruStrate.
The Germans never have been SO
dependent on radio-location as they
are today" the ministry said in a
report also detailing destruction re-
Gently wrought in such primary
Nazi industrial cities as Duessel-
dorf, Wuppertal, Bochum and Ober-
hausen.
This report, which said recon-
nalSSance showed striking evidence
of the devastation which has
brought the battle of the Ruhr to a
new climax" declared there never
has been anything like the destruc-
ton spread by the Allied bombers.
In the Barmen section of Wupper-
tai, heavily hit by the Raj the night
of May 20, more than 1000 acres
were laid waste, the report said
adding:
There now is almost as much
destruction here as there is in
Dusseldorf, town almost twice as
large"
The Air Ministry said fires still
were burning Sunday in LIE Creusot
France, where the Schneider arma =
nnent and locomotiye works uere