Evening star., 1943-11-24
Raids
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NOuOS
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communique acknowledged new
and heavy damage by fires" caused
in last nights attack, the Stock
holm Aftontidningen said the re-
peated concentrated bombing was
virtually as big as Mondays.
Explosions of blockbusters rocked
all sections Of Berlin, the newspaper
said, but fires provided the worst
horror Storm clouds of ashes swept
through the streets and often there
were terrific gusts of flames caused
by the peculiar effect of big bomb
blasts.
The explosions seemed to create
a vacuum which was followed by a
cyclonic wave of fire.
Entire Areas EnveIoped.
Firehghters were unable to cope
with their task, and entire areas 10
to II blocks long were enveloped in
flames this morning.
Raj flyers returning from last
nights raid declared they never
saw such fires as those raging in
Berlin's streets.
The RAF's smaller loss in the
second attack indicated strongly
that Berlin's defenses-antiaircraft
guns, searchlight batteries, and
probably night fighter bases around
the city, as well-were hard hit in
Monday nights raid. THE German
high command claimed only 19
British bombers downedD
This meant the Allied attack was
gaining in strength and immunity
as it moved ahead.
Veterans of the l94O-4l aerial as
saults on London were staggerd to-
day trying to conceive the havoc
wrought in Berlin by two such
heavy attacks in a row.
They compared the situation with
that in London the night of May 10,
194l, when it was generally agreed
that If the German bombers had
returned the next night the chaos
would have been virtually unbear-
able. The May 10 raid on London
was scarcely one-flfth the force of
Monday nights assault on Berlin.
Some Fighters Met.
In relatively clear weather some
Nazi night fighters were up last
night, but even they were fewer
than usual in raids on Berlin, Raj
pilots said.
Fires from Monday nights attack
could be seen so miles away by pilots
returning to the target a second
time.
stockholm eyewitness reports said
every building in the ZOO area in the
southwest corner OF the Tiergarten
was wrecked. Fashionable restau-
rants opposite the Kaiser wilhelm
Memorial Church are in ruins.
These include the Restaurant
Traube, Cafe Berlin and Cafe Am
Zoo.
The UFA Palace, Berlin's largest
cinema, was destroyed, these eye
witnesses said. The Tiergarten was
raked with bombs, apparently be-
cause heavy anti-aircraft batteries
were located in the park.
Third Raid in Six Days.
The length of time which the
Berlin-bound air armada took to
pass over the British coast last night
indicated the raid possibly was car
ried out by about the same number
of bombers as were used in the
Monday assault.
The raid was the RATS 89th
assault on Berlin and the third in
the last six days. The persistence
with which the British returned to
the attack indicated their intention
to give Berlin the same treatment
accorded Hamburg, vast areas of
which were obliterated last summer
in the greatest sustained aerial Of
fensive ever directed against any
one city.
Monday nights attack, which was
reported to have set afire or wrecked
the homes of Adolf Hitler, Foreign
Minister Joachim Won Ribbentrop
and Propaganda Minister Paul JOS
eph Goebbels, brought the bomb
tonnage dropped on Berlin so far
this year to about 10000 long tons.
French Targets Raided.
Last nights blast followed day.
light attacks on France in which
American Marauders hit at st.
Omer and Berck Sur Mer while
Raj planes bombed targets In the
Pas-de-Calais area without meeting
fighter opposition. Two Marauders
were reported missing.
Swedish dispatches quoted Ber-
liners as saying after the Monday
raid that the German capital "can
never recover from this blow" These
advices declared that the nerve CEN
ter OF .Hitler's government In the
Wilhemstrasse had suffered para
lying damage from the deluge of
explosives and incendiary bombs.
The Foreign ONCE was set ablaze,
the dispatches said, and the British
Embassy. near Unter Den Linden
at the end Of the Wilhelmstrasse,
was destroyed.
The 2o0-room headquarters Of