Evening star., 1943-12-04
RAF Tricks Nazis> Blasts Leipzig
After Bombers Feint at Berlin;
Details Of Iran Farley Awaited
23Cruft
1900 ons Of
Bombs Hit City
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, Dec. 4.-The RAF'
Bomber Command, tricking the
Germans with a timed
shift of targets, sent Mosquitoes
roaring over scorched Berlin and
heavy bombers feinting at the
Nazi capital last night, then
struck with devastating effect
at the great German trading
and railway center of Leipzig,
where $500 long tons of explo-
sives were unloaded.
The deception drew off the great
majority of German night fighters,
which rose once more to give battle
when a part of blockbusting squad
ronS headed for the battered capital
Then just as the main attack
seemed about to break over Berlin,
the major armadaS streaked south
ward 80 miles and hit Leipzig, from
where the Nazis have been trying to
succor the capital with food and
supplies.
% Bombers Missing.
The Air Ministry, which first an
nounced that "a bombers were miss
ing from the night attack, later
corrected the figure to %, as COM
pared with the previous nights losses
of Al in the 1,500-ton attack on
Berlin.
Battered Berlin, however, did not
escape new destruction.
AS the heavy bomberS made their
abrupt turn toward the south, swift
two -engined Mosquitoes darted in to
strike selected targets and keep the
weary capital under siege for the
second successive night following
five heavy blows.
Striking we'll after midnight in a
quick change of procedure, the heavy
bombers dumped high explosives and
incendiaries on Leipzigs industry
and on her freight yards, already
strained to the limit to accommo-
date Russia bound war traffic cur
rently forced this way by Berlin's
mangled communications.
First reports from crews returning
at breakfast time from the 1000
mile round trip told of concen-
trated and effective bombing of the
city, of more than 100000 population.
Large Railway Terminal.
Leipzig is one of the worlds
largest railway terminals. Main rail
lines from Regensburg, Berlin and
Kassel intersect there and it is one
of the gateways to the Eastern front.
More than 20 firms there are en-
gagged in the manufacture of air
craft components and it also is the
home of assembly plants for JU-88s
and ME-109s.
Reports reaching Spain from Ger
many said Leipzig was one of the
several big cities in the Berlin area
now being drawn on heavily to sup
port the capitals bomb battered
millions.
The raid was the eighth of the
war on Leipzig, last battered by the
RAF on the night of October 20
after a long respite lasting since
late in 1910.
A Swedish businessman told
Stockholm correspondents only to-
day that the industrial city appeared
back to normal when he was there
few days ago.
Other Cities Supply Bread.
Other Raj planes rounded out the
nights assaults by sowing mines in
enemy shipping lanes, and fighters
lashed out at enemy airfields over
wide area
Berlin said raid alarms had been
sounded again this morning in parts
of Eastern, Central and Western
Switzerland, indicating that day
raiders were out over the continent.
Stockholm dispatches said the
center of Leipzig was laid in ruins
with heavy casualties among the in
habitants.
The RATS fake stab at Berlin
caught LeipzigS defenses almost
f1atfooted, according to the Swedish
accounts.
Mosquitoes Get Revenge.
The newspaper Aftonbladet said
the German Foreign Office had
promised that one objective struck
in last nights Mosquito raid on Ber-
lin will especially be avenged" but
the target was not named.
A Berlin broadcast said Leipzig's
population had suffered losses, and
made the usual assertion that "nu-
merous public buildings as we'll as
cultural institutions and monuments
were seriously hit"
Reports from Berlin through
neutral countries said that three of
Berlin's biggest bakeries had been
destroyed in Thursday nights as
sault and that bread now was COM
In in from Leipzig and Magdeburg
Berlins Funkhaus (broadcastine
holse), situated in the far west end
o. the city, was hit, a Swedish dis
patch said, and an eyewitness reach
irg Stockholm reported there was
hardly anything left" of the borough
OF Charlottenburg, also in the west
end.
The eyewitness said the once
thriving square Alexander-Platz, in
the heart of the capital, had been
(See RAIDS. Page ALL