The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-11-23
City Ripped By
2,OOOTons of Bombs
Continued from Page IL

tCOntulucu
Berlin and Ludwigshafen Thursday
night in the heaviest one-night op
Grafton of the war. They doubted
the tonnage dropped last nigh
equaled the 1900 tons unloaded or
Hamburg in the heaviest attack o:
the war last July 81.
Embassy Windows
The Swises radio reported thai
many windows of the Swiss embassy
were smashed during the raid anc
some Offices wrecked. None of the
staff was injured. The embassy il
at the extreme west end of the
Giergartenstrasse near the Spanish
embassy and the Irish legation
about a quarter-m mile from two huge
anti-aircraft towers in the Tier.
garten.
The British Press association es-
timated that nearly 10000 tons Of
explosives had been dropped or
Berlin this year, with the city re-
ceiving twice in the last five nights
load equivalent to the tonnage
the Germans dropped on Britain
In the last sixteen months.
Only 26 planes were lost in the
raid and in subsidiary Mosquito at
tacks on western Germany and
mine laying operations, the smallest
casualties proportionately yet SUI
fered in a raid on Berlin. -Four OF
the missing aircraft were Canadian
German radio reports limited that
virtually every section of the city
from the Inter Den Linden and the
Wilhelmstrasse in the center to the
greatest concentration of war plants
in Germany on the outskirts felt the
impact of Allied block busters
ranging up to four-tonners.
Returning airmen reported con-
f1agrations engulfing whole clusters
of buildings and said some sections
appeared "seas of flame" The heavi-
est block busters literally obliterated
some buildings.
Tenor Attack
The official German news agency
DNB denounced the raid as a ter
ror attack and acknowledged that
in many parts of Berlin there was
heavy damage and large loss of
life.
Air observers specialized that this
second large-scale raid on Berlin
1000 to 1900 tons of bombs were
dropped on the capital Thursday
night-might mean that the Allied
air command has marked the city
for the Hamburg" treatment.
In the two nights alone, nearly
half the total weight of bombs
dropped on London during the en-
tire 11-month German "blitz' of
1040-41 have crashed down on the
German capital and it could be
assumed safely that water mains
and power cables over a wide area
have been smashed and traffic
brought to standstill.
The tonnage of last nights raid,
which ended a two-night weather.
enforced lull in the Allied aerial
offensive, exceeded the 1,700 tons
dropped in SO minutes last Aug. %
by the Raj in the previous heaviest
raid on Berlin.
Swedish reports said small Brit
iSh formations flew over Berlin late
yesterday afternoon, presumably as
pathfinders for big raiders.
DNB said the main force arrived
in the late evening" and scattered
a great weight of explosives over
wide area despite lack of visible
ity.
Working Districts
Working districts" suffered most,
DNB said, but "irreplaceable historic
and cultural buildings" were de-
stroyed and buildings housing neu-
tral diplomatic missions were dam
aged.
In previous raids when the Nazis
have claimed that cultural objec-
tives' have been hit, the damage
has been chiefly to the center of
Berlin between Brandenburger gate
and the old imperial castle.
Such buildings damaged previous
ly included the state opera house
on under Den Linden, burned out
In April 1910 but since rebuilt; the
Prussian State Library, under Zen
Linden, damaged in the same raid;
ana Saint HedWig's Cathedral, be-
hind the opera house, Quilted nine
months ago.
AS most of the rest of Berlin is
less than 100 years Id, it was as
sumed this area again was hit heav-
lily in view of the Nazi reference to
historic and cultural buildings.
Also situated in MS section OF
Berlin are government and Nazi
party administrative buildings.
Foreign embassies and ministries
mainly are in dignified ~ownstone
buildings in and around Tiergarten-
strasse about one mil west of Un-
der Den Under and Postdamerplatz
This section previously had escaped
serious damage, thong. it also in
Guided the German high command
headquarters and numerous other
buildings that could be onsidered
priority targets.
Industrial ID stricts
Industrial districts pounded heav-
lily in previous raids included Omoa-
bit, two miles northwest of Inter
Den Linden; Wedding, former Com
munist stronghold; Reinickendorf;
Neukoelln, to the southeast. and
Steglitz, to the southwest.
AS result to the latest raids on
Berlin, observers said, 1t can be as
sun4ed that little of Berlin's 340