The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-08-18

(Continued from Page D Germany bearing the brunt of the assault.
 British fighters inaugurated the second day of the offensive with sweeps over northern France and favorable weather foreshadowed in- creasingly heavy raids during the day.
 British-ba American Flying Fortresses set the pace for yester- days daylight attacks, bombing two key far factories in central Ger many in their heaviest and deepest penetration of the Reich to date, while other big formations of For tresses from North Africa raided two Axis airdromes in southern France for the first time.
 Other aircraft during the day and night ranged far and wide over Europe from bases in Britain and Africa. Airfields and communica- tions targets all the way from France to southern Italy rocked un- Qer the impact Ol DOInDS.
 The mounting pitch of the of- fensive was reported by radio AL giers to have precipitated strikes in war factories in Berlin and Stutt- gart, but this was not confirmed.
 Peenemuende Raid
 The raid on Peenemuende last night, representing a round trip of at least 1,200 miles, was believed to have devastated the huge station specializing in research and de- velopment work on aircraft radio location and armament.
 Bright moonlight illuminated the target almost like day, enabling the bombers to pin point their targets. The air ministry said preliminary reports indicated the attack was well concentrated.
 It was the first raid of the war against the station. Few details were known about the exact work carried on there, but 1t was assumed that intelligence reports reaching the air ministry indicated it was of sufficient importance to justify sending heavy force of bombers to a town which does not even show on most maps of Germany.
 The bright moonlight also silhou- cited the bombers for great num- bers of night fighters lurking along the route across northern Germany and this accounted for the large toll of British planes.
 Several of the fighters were shot down by the bombers, the air min istry said. However, the toll of Al bombers was the largest in almost two months.
 No Details of Raid
 No details were given of the Mos quito raid on Berlin, but 1t was another reminder that the capital soon may feel the weight of a real saturatio nraid by four-engined bombers. It was the fourth such raid on Berlin in six nights.
 While the raids on Europe have been almost continuous during the past two days. The latest offensive rounded out one week in which more targets have been bombed than in any previous seven days since the start of the war.
 The tonnage of bombs dropped during the seven-day period was sec ond only to that of the last week in July, which included the shattering raids on Hamburg.
 pritfQt, Guhtar pnyt,rf, 1,1 TrotrIIHpr planes directed their attacks last night against airflelds and railway targets in France, Holland, Belgium and northwest Germany, destroying four enemy aircraft.
 Fifty German planes. the largest force in some time, scattered bombs over six places in southern England and one point in eastern England last night in weak show at retalia- tion. Several persons were killed. Seven raiders were shot down.
 Brigadier General Frederick L.. Anderson, chief of the bomber com mand of the 8th U. s. Air Force, said the Allied offensive had reach- ed pitch where the ultimate col- lapse of German resistance, though not in sight, was obvious and in- evitable."
 Feeble Retort
 German aircraft struck back feebly by dropping a few bombs on an East Angnan district in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire. Six raiders were shot down over Britain and another three were destroyed over their bases in enemy occupied territory by British intruder planes.
 The U. S. 9th Air Force marked the first anniversary of its first raid on Europe yesterday by sending the biggest forces of Flying Fortresses yet used in this theater against a roller bearing factory at Schwein- furt, 65 miles east of Frankfurt, and major Messerchmitt factory at Regensburg. 55 miles southeast of Nurnberg.
 The twin assaults carried the fortresses nearly 300 miles into Ger many, their deepest penetration yet and the Regensburg attackers in- augurated an American shuttle bombing service between Britain and Africa by flying 1000 miles on to North African bases. 36 Bombers Lost The FortreSses suffered a record loss of 36 planes, on the Schwein- furt raid, 10 more than on any pre- vious raid, but Anderson said the destruction of the two key targets would more than outweigh what ever losses we may have sustained Anderson declared that both the