The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-10-09

Ing OF Bremen and the nearby town
Of Vegesack.
142 Fighters DOwned
Swarrns of Nazl fighters rose tc
challenge them and the fortress
gunners knocked i42 Of them out Of
the air.
That smashing victory cleared the
way for the Raj night blow at
Bremen, forcing the badly strained
Luftwaffe to throw weary pilots and
planes back into action with little
more than q few hours respite.
The night raid was the RATS
l05th attack Of the war on Bremen,
It's first since last Feb. 81, and the
American attack was the third by
the Eighth air force, but the big In
land port never before had been the
target Of o 24-hour Hamburg type"
assault.
Bremen Is the second largest port
in Germany and its granaries, flour
mills, oil refineries, shipyards, tex
tile plants and aircraft factories put
It high on the Raj bomber COM
mand's priority list.
Worst Bombing
Whether Bremen has been select
ed for the same systematic destruc-
ton that virtually wiped out HAM
burg In little more than o week re-
mains to be seen. But the last "A
hours undoubtedly were the worst
the city has had.
Hanover was rated as an even
more critical target, housing the
sprawling Gummiwerke Rubber
plant which makes large proper
ton Of the tires for Germany mill
tary vehicles and planes, as well al
Syntehetic rubber plant, oil re-
fneries, locomotive and tank works
and textile mills. OF equal import
ance, the city strides the main rail:
way line linking the industrial
Ruhr Valley with northwest ano
central Germany.
The Mosquito raid on Berlin was
the ninth carried out on the Ger
man capital by the speedy plywooo
bombers since mid-August.
The night raid sent one OF the
greatest air offensiveS Of the war In
to Its 18th day and brought to q
the number Of large-sca1e attacks on
Germany since September 20, when
the Raj cascaded q great weight OF
explosives on chemical works at
Bochurn.
Luftwaffe Defense
The Luftwaffe threw hundreds Of
fighters against the Flying Fort
resses and Liberator formations
which attacked Bremen and nearby
Vegesack, concentrating Its great
est effort into the 30-minute period
when the bombers were without
their Thunderbolt escorts.
FortresseS and Lberator gunners
blasted 100 out Of the sky and the
Thunderbolts destroyed 70, COM
pared with 30 heavy boTnbers and
three American fighters missing,
making the days operations second
only to the Schweinfurt and Reg
ensburg shuttle raids August II In
terms of bombers lost and enemy
planes destroyed.
Twenty three Fortresses and Lib
orators were lost at Regensburg and
SO at Schweinfurt, but American
gunners shot down 307 German
fighters.
The bombers' targets at Bremen
were the Weser Aircraft factory,
which produces Stuka dive bombers
for use on the Russian front, the
important Leschimag shipbuilding
yards and port facilities. The y s.
army pointed out that destruction
Of the Stuka plan would greatly
help the Russians"
End Largest Yard
The Deschimag plant is the Sec
ond largest U-boat construction
yard in Germany and the only yard
in the country producing large des-
troyers. Bremen's port annually
handles more than 100000 long
tons of vital imports from Scandi-
navia.
Vegesack, eight miles northwest of
Bremen on the Wester river, is the
site of important U-boat installa-
tons which was pounded by Flying
Fortresses and Liberators March 10.
The army communique said both
Bremen and Vegesack were attacked
by strong formations of bombers,
but did not specify the bomb ton
mage dropped.
During daylight yesterday, Raj
Boston Fighter Bombers continued
the Allied offensive against enemy
airfields and communications In
France and the lowlands with an
assault on an airdrome at Brest.
while Spitfires escorting the Bostons
and on offensive patrols shot down
10 enemy planes yesterday. Two
Raj aircraft we're missing.
Air raid sirens walled In London
last evening for the third successive
night, but no bombs were dropped.
a