Evening star., 1943-05-14
Raids

NQIOS
Continued From First Page)
in fierce battles in which German
fighters rose to challenge the raid
ers. which were beset also by me-
dium and heavy fax.
Wilhelmshaven, Kiel and Emden
have been frequent Allied air tar
gets on the German north coast,
but the Germans did not specify
the og-shrouded targets.
Heavy Damage Disclosed.
British authoritative sources said
preliminary reconnaissance reports
indicated heavy industrial dam
age" in Raj raids on Dortmund
May 4 and on Duisburg two nights
ago.
Tremendous explosions rolling
from the French coast indicated that
the Calais and Dunkerque areas
were being hardest hit.
(17he German radio asserted
that the British planes were
unable to concentrate their night
attack because Of pursuit by Ger
man night fighters and heavy
anti-aircraft barrages. The Ger
mans said at least 80 raiders,
mostly four engined bombers,
were destroyed and that 10 others
were probably shot down.
Other Targets Attacked.
The last sizable British raid on
Czechoslovakia was April is, when
heavy force reached out to smash
the Skoda armament works at
Pllsen in an attack which later re-
ports said killed 800 and apparently
destroyed everything in 50-acre
area. The British lost 81 bombers
in that assault.
The Air Ministry also disclosed
that Raj fighter -bombers were &C
tive throughout last night, shooting
up air fields and railway targets in
France and Germany, and bombing
minesWeeper off Boulogne.
A German retaliation raid scored
several hits in Eastern England and
caused at least seven deaths, the
Air and Home Security Ministries
announced. Two enemy aircraft
were destroyed. More bodies we're
sought in the Wreckage of buildings
OF an inland town which suffered
a concentrated attack, it was said.
Russians Raid Warsaw.
The renewed and more intensive
Allied aerial offensive against Axis
held Europe was matched on the
East by the Russians, who an
nounced that their long-range
bombers struck Wednesday night
without loss at railways and NUM-
tions stores at Warsaw, capital of
Nazi-occupied Poland. 1t was the
first raid on the city since it was
smashed by the German Air Force
during the 1889 invasion.
German planes got to the out
skirts of London early today, causing
the first night alert in 18 DAYS. but
the raiders were turned back by
heavy anti-aircraft barrage after
dropping flares. The raiding force
was declared to have been the
largest to appear in weeks.
The RAF also bombed railway
yards at Boulogne in daylight yes
terday, losing one bomber and two
hghter planes and destroying six
enemy fighters. Later in the day
1t hit the airield at Abbeville and
targets at Cherbourg Harbor, with
out loss.
The German radio identified last
nights target as Central and North
western Germany-an area which
contains Berlin, Wilhelmshaven,
k1el. Hamburg, Bremen and other
industrial centers, and ship and
submarine bases.
A report from Stockholm said
telephone communications wit h
Berlin had been suspended during
the night.
The airfield at St. Omer was at
tackled by American planes yester-
day.
Planes Fill Sky.
the number of bombers which
sailed out in the attacks at Meaulte
and st. Omer was not disclosed, but
with their Allied fighter escort they
hlled the sky across the Channel.
American pilots on their return
to Britain said smoke rose 5000 feet
from the explosions they caused.
1t. William Whitman of Denton,
Tex, pilot in the bomber next-to-
last in the formation that attacked
Meaulte, said I'VE couldn't see any,
thing but seething mass of smoke
and flame below when we released
our explosives. Even when we
reached the Channel on the trip
homeward we could look back and
still see the smoke, which must have
reached 5000 feet"
German fighter planes engaged
the bomber fleet from the coast 60
miles inland to Meaulte, but the AL
lied fighter cover fought them off in
spectacular fashion, the pilots said.
For 1t. Joseph G.. H. Sanders of
Shreveport, La, and 1t. E. c. Han
cock of San Antonio, Tex, the flights
marked their twenty fifth missions.
During the days operations no
fewer than 18 enemy fighters were
shot down. The Americans lost
three bombers and five fighters in
diversicnary sweeps but caught
number of German planes on the
al