Evening star., 1943-08-16
Raids
Continued From First Page. J

gagged in extensive minelaying in
enemy waters" the communique
said.
Intense antiaircraft fire and q
great concentration of searchlights
were reported at Berlin.
Aircraft of the fighter command
on intruder patrol attacked enemy
airfields and railway targets in
France and the Low Countries. One
enemy aircraft was destroyed"
The Air Ministry, without saying
whether heavy craft or mosquitoes, or
both, were meant, said 10 bombers
failed to return and two fighters
were missing.
The German Air Force last night
attacked south coast town, which
later was identified by Berlin
broadcast as Portsmouth, with the
heaviest assault in two years and
lost of some Is raiders sent over
in this and other scattered raids on
coastal towns.
The raiders came in singly, scat
tering their bombs over widely sep
arated parts of the city and causing
fairly heavy casualties including
a number killed.
More Planes Roar Over Channel.
The heaviest damage was inflicted
in the working class section of the
port. which was hard hit in previous
raids.
There was no letup in the air as
sault this morning as great forma-
tions of heavy Allied daylight bomb
ers roared across the Channel for
two hours under strong fighter es-
cort.
Later in the day medium bombers
and fighters took up the attack. At
one time formations of bomoers
swept out at roof-top level with
squadrons of fighters at greater
height. This attack seemed directed
at two targets as one force went
south and some southeast.
The new Raj blow continued a
steady British American air Often
sive which included raids Saturday
night on Milan and Berlin, on the
Axis airfield at st. Omer, France, in
daylight yesterday, and on six
enemy airdromes in France and
Holland at dusk
Strong forces of Flying Fortresses,
roaring across the Channel at the
latest hour they have ever raided
Europe, blasted the six airfields,
officially described by the United
States 9th Air Force as Germany S
most important operational fighter
airdromeS in Western Europe. u
American MarauderS hit st. Omer
Milan "Gigantic Ruin"
Swiss dispatches to London morn
ing newspapers reported that Milan
was lone gigantic ruin" from the
heavy raids of Thursday and Satur-
day nights.
These reports said thousands were
trying to get out of the blasted
metropolis where the populace has
repeatedly demonstrated for i'm
mediate peace.
Fires again were visible in Milan
early today and bomb blasts were
audible in the Swiss frontier city
Of Lugano, 35 miles away.
The airfields bombed at dusk last
night by the Flying Fortresses
escorted by Thunderbolts. were To-
Gated at Polk, Amiens, Lille, Vitre-
en-Artdis and Merville in France
and Vlissingen in Holland.
In addition to bombing the air.
drome at st. Omer. the Marauder
light bombers also raided the rail-
way center at Abbeville.
The 9th Air Force communioue
reported good bombing results" on
all the American raids. Enemy
fighter resistance was reported weak
and the anti-aircraft fire moderate
The American bomber crews
knocked down at least eight Nazi
fighters, while Spitf1res accounted
for two more. One heavy bomber
and one fighter were listed as
missing.
| Saturday nights RAF attack on
Milan was on a smaller scale than
the raid Thursday night, described
officially as the heaviest air blow
OF the war On Italy. The majo
Saturday night target was the Breda
armament works In the northeast
industrial suburbs.
A Rome broadcast reported by the
Ministry of Information last night
said the mayor of Milan, Senator
Gallari Scott, had resigned and
that Prefect Giorgio Boltra Flo had
been named to head the munich
pality.
Dispatches from the Swiss border
said the people of Milan were crying
frenziedly for peace and that all
five anti-Fascist parties in Italy
have united to demand immediate
peace as "the only way to save
Italy
A resolution reported adopted b.
the five parties was said to declare
that Premier Pietro Badoglio was
only "a continuation of Mussolini"
and that the House of Savoy was
linked to the old regime and was
mot acceptable to democratic
Italy"