Imperial Valley press., 1943-06-29

r aided /
Again

LONDON, June 20. (UP)
British bombers in great
strength sent the record
shattering Anglo : American
air offensive through its 10th
straight night with a crushing
block buster assault on Cologne,
Germany's third largest city, and a
subsidiary raid on Hamburg, its
biggest port. last night.
Twenty-Five bombers were lost in
the two-pronged attack.
RAF fighters and Albacores of
the fleet air arm joined in last
nights offensive with an attack on
an enemy convoy trying to slip
through Dover Strait with supplies
or reinforcementS for German gar
rison forces on the French coast.
THREE SHIPS HIT
At least one of the three merchant
ships in the convoy and two OF
the escorting motor torpedo boats
were damaged, the air ministry
said. Altogether the Raj has sunk
or damaged nearly million tons
of enemy shipping in attacks from
British bases since June l94l, in
Guiding 25Q000 tons in the past
year alone.
In the Mediterranean, American
Flying FortresSes from the north
west African command bombed the
Italian oil refining port OF Leghorn,
200 miles north of Rome, in day
light yesterday just one month to
the day after their first raid on the
city. Many fires and explosions
were observed and several ships
were reported sunk or damaged in
the harbor.
Other British and American air
craft from the northwest African
command heaped new destruction on
San Giovanni, one of the italian
mainland termini of the important
ferry lines to Sicily, and raided
airdromes in Sardinia. Twelve enc
my aircraft were shot down and
only two Allied planes were lost.
The BritiSh-baSed bomberS, most
ly FOUR -engined Strings, HalifaXes
and LancaSters, concentrated their
main assault on Cologne, Germany's
third largest city and the target of
the RATS first 1,0O0-plane raid
last year.
Clouds over the city made full
observation of results difficult, but
large fires were seen to be burning" "
the air ministry said.
The official German news agen-
cy, DNB, said in a Berlin broadcast
that the Cologne cathedral, begun
in the 18th century, was hit by
bombs and that the central nave
was damaged badly. The cathedral,
which contains the Shrine of the
Magi, was not finished until the
18th century.
A lesser weight of bombs was
dropped on Hamburg, Germany's
second city and a big shipbuilding
center. Other bombers laid mines
in enemy waters.
Last nights raids were l17th of
the war on Cologne and the 9th
on Hamburg.
A German broadcast acknowledge
ed heavy damage in Cologne to
public buildings, cultural edifices,
and residences, 1t said 26 British
planes were shot down.
Tie assault on Cologne marked
a switch from Germany's shattered
Ruhr valley, reeling under the
weight of 5000 tons of bombs drop
ped by the RAF in the last 3la
months, to the Rhineland, next in
| Importance as source of tanks,
arms and munitions for Hitler'S
armies.
Radio Algiers broadcast reports
that Adolf Hitler has ordered l.
100000 war prisoners into the still
smoking Ruhr valley to help clear
away debris and another 1000, ,O0O
prisoners to Austria to build new
factories to replace those wrecked
in the Ruhr.
The air ministry announced that
reconnaissance photographs of the
RAF raid on Bochum June II dis
closed that 130 acres in the center
of the city, including nine indus
trial establishments, had been dev-
astated and 700 buildings destroyed
or damaged severely. Bochum was
raided again Friday night.