Evening star., 1943-06-25
33 Croft Are Lost in
Night Operations
Of British Airmen

Ruhr to a new peak last night by
returning to the bomb battered
city Of Wuppertal in great
strength and making a concen-
trated attack on important
chemical and textile manufac-
turing plants there.
I Thirty-three bombers failed to re-
turn from the nights operations,
which included assaults on other
targets in the Ruhr and laying
mines in enemy waters.
The attack was concentrated on
the industrial area of Elberfeld, the
Western section of Wuppertal, the
Air Ministry said.
The attack was nearly as heavy
as that recently made on Barmen,
the Eastern half of Wuppertal, and
from preliminary reports great dam
age appears to have been DONE"
communique declared.
Heavy Axis Defense.
Heavy defensive activity was re-
ported by the flyers who returned
from the area, which Hitler has
packed with anti-aircraft guns,
searchlight batteries and fighter
planes in an effort to stave off the
battering being given his heavy in
dustries in the region.
The German communique said
losses among the populations of the
towns attacked are heavy" The
communique. broadcast by Berlin
and recorded by the Associated
Press, said several towns were hit
in particular, Wuppertal- -Elberfeld
and Remscheid." Remscheid, near
Wuppertal, is a center of the Ger
man tool industry and has important
railway repair shops.
The Barmen area of Wuppertal
suffered heavy saturation attack
May % when $500 tons or more of
bombs were laid on the sprawling
industrial area which occupies both
sides Of the Wupper River.
Wuppertal was formed in 1929 by
an amalgamation of the towns of
Elberfeld and Barmen and has a
population of more than 100000
Chief targets at Elberfeld are the
7. G. Farbenindustrie Chemical
Works, the Jaeger plants, which turn
out roller bearings, and a number
of textile factories.
In the May 20 attack the RAF also
lost 80 bombers, but was believed
virtually to have wiped out the
Barmen section.
Sixth Night of Offensive.
Last nights raid, accomplished on
a moonless night, marked the fifth
consecutive night the RAF has
struck either Germany or Italy
with the most paralyzing blows fall
ing on the vital Ruhr area.
1t was the<sixth night of a pow
erful offensive which began with
the assault on the Schneider NUM-
tions works at LIE Creusot, ITO miles
southeast of Paris, last Saturday
night.
The offensive has included the
first great daylight assault by Amer
ican bombers on the Ruhr, an as
sault which set ablaze the important
German synthetic rubber plant at
Huls.
1t was pointed up by the spec
tacular round-trip RAF bombing
raid between bases in England and
North Africa.
In the six-day period 1875 Allied
bombers have been lost.
The Air Ministry said German
planes dropped bombs harmlessly
during the night in one place on
the southeast coast of England.
The German radio declared eight
Allied planes were lost in daylight
attacks on German-occupied terri
tory yesterday.
Raj fighters prowling over West
ern Europe during the night harassed
enemy air bases and shot down at
least one German plane over an
airdrome in the Netherlands,
Intense Day Activity.
The night raids followed a day of
intense Allied aerial activity in
which 400 to 500 bombers and fight
ers hammered at Adolf Hitler's
Atlantic wall" defenses from the
Netherlands to Frances Cherbourg
Peninsula.
Among the targets of the daylight
raiders were Oil storage tanks at
Flushing in the Netherlands. freight
yards at st. Omer, France, and air
bases at Fort Rouge, Abbeville and
Maupertus.
Inc Allied planes were said to
have ruled the skies as they ranged
over the continent, beating off the
efforts OF German fighters to break
up their formations.
American Thunderbolts were cred
lted with shooting down one Focke-
Wulf fighter and damaging another.
while British Spitfires downed 10
German planes and probably
knocked out others. The total Al
lied losses were one bomber and four
hghters-none of which were Amer
ican planes.
Speculate on Shuttle Raids.
Meanwhile, the RATS shuttle
bomber" service, which was inaugu-
rated this week when Lancaster
bombers attacked Friedrichshafen
Sunday night, continued on to North
Africa, and then bombed La Spezia
In Northern Italy en- route home
Wednesday night, continued to
arouse the Imagination of the Brit
ish public.
Observers speculated on the possi-
bilities opened up by this new tech
niQue.
This may well be the answer to
night fighter attacks by the Luft-
waite on our raiding aircraft de-
clared the London Daily Sketch,
pointing out that the Germans
henceforth will be kept guessing In
their efforts to waylay returning
raiders.
The possibilities of an adequately
sustained campaign challenge the
imagination" said the Telegraph,
and the Herald declared that "the
problem 1t sets for the Axis Is seri-
ous."