Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-12-05
Americas Second War Year
Sees Allies Take Initiative

badly limited. But neither coal nor
other raw materials could bring italian
production up to = level satisfactory to
the hungry Nad war machine.
A survey issued on December 10 indi-
Gated that the destruction by Allied
bombing raids and the general prefer
ence Italian workers had for the more
quiet life OF the hills to which they fed
to escape bombs, had reduced industrial
output about so per cent. Especially
serious was the reduction in production
Of airplane motors At Turin by 80 per
cent.
London Heavily Bombed.
In January the submarine bases at
Lorient, Brest and st. Nazaire were
raided, Lorient three times. Essen,
home Of the Krhpp works and many
times bombed before, received another
100 tons. Berlin was attacked, to be
followed by quick Nazi retaliation
against London, which, on January 20,
underwent the heaviest raid since the
Battle Of Britain.
On January ~ American planes
made their first raid on Germany, vari-
GUS naval bases, unspecifled, being the
target. The next night 1t was Dussel-
DORIS turn again.
In February Cologne was raided bv
100 planes on the Sd and Hamburg
was given foretaste Of things to come
two days later when 300 planes released
their bombs over Germany's second
largest CITY, On February 5 three
raids We're launched by the Raj, one
against Lorient, one against detectives
IN the Ruhr and one crossing all the
way to Italy, where Turin, home of a
vital roller and ball bearing industry.
and the Spezia naval base near Genoa
were attacked.
Keeping up steady succession of
raids, the British hit Essen on March
6, the 10th night in row that GERMANY
had been raided, to be followed the next
night with raids on Brest and Lorient.
On April l, the 25th birthday of the
Raj, British flyers took 900 tons Of
bomos to Berlin, double the heaviest
load dropped on London during the
height OF the Battle OF Britain,
On the night of April 3rd American
Flying Fortresses hoped to Paris to
wipe out the Renault motor and truck
works while the British dropped 1000
tons on the submarine assembly plant
at Kiel.
Another outstanding raid in April
was that of 600 British bombers which
penetrated Czechslovakia to bomb the
huge Skoda works where the best arti,-
lery in Europe had been produced up to
that time.
On the 18th OF May mere handful Of
planes, ls in fact, the pilots of which
mad gone through long preparation.
STRUCK the most devastating blow of the
air campaign against Germany when
they flew low above the Elder and Mohne
dams to release explosives against the
Dams and send great surging walls of
water down the Ruhr Valley in a ire
mendous flood which wiped out many
small towns. destroyed hydroelectrio
plants at numerous places and knocked
out seriously Gripping percentage of
Germany's hydroelectric power on
which the synthetic oil industry largely
depends. Behind the Moline Dam there
were 130,Oo0,000 tons of impounded
water; behind the Elder, 2o2 900 900 tons.
Dortmund at the southern end OF the
vital Dortmund-Ems Canal which car
rles much of Germanys freight was
hit by 1000 tons of bombs on May %,
including block-busters and incendiaries.
which started fires sending smoke
swirling miles in the air. Dortmund
had by this time reached new import
ance for much OF the Krupp industry
had moved from wrecked Essen to the
canal city. Another Gripping blow was
dealt when Mosquito bombers, the
speedy little plywood craft which have
kept Berlin under constant harassment
and which have been scoring a salts
factory total Of more than 100 locomo-
tives knocked out per month, raided
Jena, home of the lens and precision
instrument industry without whose out
put much of German industry Is badly
crippled.
raid on Duisberg during the week
OF May % resulted in the complete de-
struction Of synthetic oil plant which
produced 100000 tons of sorely needed
fuel per year. AS synthetics are now
filling about one third of Germany's
present requirements, the blow was
serious.
At Friedrichshafen on Lake Con-
stance the Lufteschiffbau factory, which
produces Germany's version of radar, was
eliminated. Muelhein, where Germany
repairs her locomotives, was smashed
and Gelsenkirchen, a veteran of the air
raids, once again was struck serious
blow in her synthetic oil establishments.
After lull during the rest of June
and July, during which Hamburg re-
ceived one heavy raid, sighting shot, it
was soon to appear, that unhappy city,
most important in the U-boat warfare
of all German cities, received the full
weight of Allied airpower starting with
the last week Of July and, when the raid
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