The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-05-17
RAF Bomb Nazi Dams, Eight Planes Sacrificed
Continued from Page l,

ordinary difficulty and hazard. Eight big Lancasters with precious crews were lost.
 The German communique today acknowledged that two dams were damaged and that "fods are caus- ing serious losses among the civilian population"
 The Germans did not locate the dams but said that eight raiders were shot down and nine other Al lied planes destroyed over western Europe.
 Sinclair in his speech said:
 Wing Commander Gibson, who commanded the aircraft on the op- eration (against the dams), pressed home the attack aginst strong de- lenses regardless of the danger"
 He praised Air Marshal Sir Ar thur T. Harris, head of the bomber command, "who planned the details of the operation and those superb ly daring and skillful crews who smote the Germans so heavily last night"
 NeW AlNu OI DlOW
 The operation was a heavy blow of new kind against German sources of war power, he said.
 "It was a trenchant blow for vic tory by the Allies and therefore for the freedom and independence of Norway" he said.
 The Eder river rises in Rhenish Prurssia northeast of Coblenz and joins the Fulda southwest of Cas- sel. The Moehne flows t trough Westphalia north of the Eder in the area east of the Dortmund- Duesseldorf-D -Duisburg industrial re- zion.
 The air ministry announced today the Royal Air Force lost nine bomb CTS in the nights operations.
 It was the 64th raid of the war on the German capital. Targets in the Ruhr and Rhineland were not Spe- cified in the communique.
 It said planes of the RAF fighter command made extensive intruder operations over enemy occupied ter ritory. One fighter was .lissing.
 u WAS LLlC III SO4lOCNoUlfO ooJ of the new and record-smashing AL lied raids extending deep into the heart of the Reich and into CZech- oslovakia, Poland, France, Belgium and Holland.
 Last nights raid on Berlin was understood to have been on com paratively small scale. Berlin also had been bombed the previous night by the light, swift mosquito bomb CTS.
 (The German radio carried a DNB news agency dispatch which reported that four Allied bombers had been shot down in nuisance raids on northern, central and west ern Germany last night)
 As their part in the big assualt American planes have been attack ing by day, with the British taking up at night. American fighters raid- ed occupied countries Sunday and a record number of U. s. bombers to attack Germany rained bombs on Emdn Saturday.
 The RAF night raid began a few hours after Americas new high-fly- ing PAY thunderbolts carried out on two daylight sweeps over occupied territory and ran into large forces of German Focke Wulfs and Mes serschmitts. Two enemy planes were shot down and others damaged against loss of one thunderbolt.
 (The German news agency, DINE, reported destruction of four thun- derbolts)
 British long range attackers flew deep into enemy territroy Saturday night and shot up trains. barges, trucks and air fields in Germany, France, Belgium and Holland in ad- dition to & convoy off the French coast and a factory near Karlsruhe. British Mosquitoes of the bomber command attacked Berlin. No Bri- tish planes were lost in these opera tionS.
 On Sunday, Mitchells and Ven- turas of the RAF bomber command attacked enemy air fields at Caen and Morlaix along the northwest coast of France destroying two en- emy planes. Typhoon fighters bombed the railway yards at Flu In