Evening star., 1944-01-22
Attack Sets Up New Beachheads;
RAF Hits Magdeburg and Berlin
55 Bombers Lost:
90 NuziCruft
Stub at London
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, Jan. 22.-The RATS
campaign to f1atten German in
dustrial targets crushed the city
Of Magdeburg in Saxony last
night under more than 1000 long
tons of bombs as the major
phase of a great aerial operation
which included a smaller attack
on Berlin.
The new blows against Germany
following up heavy 2,200-ton as
sault on the capital the previous
night, cost the Raj SIS bombers, one
of the heaviest losses suffered in a
year.
They came while the Germans
themselves were stabbing at London
and Southeast England with two
sharp raids by a force of approx
mately 80 bombers.
1000 Planes in Attacks.
Probably 1000 planes took part
in the widespread operations of the
Raj during the night, striking also
into Northern France and laying
mines. This made it the second
l,000-plane Allied offensive within
IA hours. Approximately that num-
ber Of American and British aircraft
attacked the Pas de Calais area in
daylight yesterday.
The nights losses were the
heaviest since So bombers went down
during a great assault on Berlin last
August %. Fourteen of the missing
bombers were Canadian.
Magdeburg, city Of 100000 on
the left bank OF the Elbe River,
about SO miles southwest of Berlin,
is a junction point for the main
railways to Leipzig, Kassel and
Hamburg-all previously hit heavily.
Large Fires Started.
Magdeburg itself was bombed ex-
actly a week before by Mosquitoes
while big fleet of British bombers
concentrated on the aircraft manu-
featuring center of Brunswick, 26
miles away. which some neutral
sources now say ceases to exist"
The Air Ministry described last
nights blast at Magdeburg as "a
very heavy attack" and said great
fires were left burning.
The RAF force which returned to
Berlin, where fires still blazed from
the 2,300-ton bombing of the night
before, included both four -engined
Lancasters and the swift Mosquitoes.
At the same time other bombers
struck unidentified targets in
France, following up Yesterdays
1.000-plane daylight assault on the
so-called rocket gun coast in the
neighborhood of Pas de Calais.
London Area Raided.
The Germans, making a counter
blow, sent one group of bombers
across the Channel before midnight
and another in the early hours of
this morning.
They operated mainly over South
east England. but about 80 of the
invaders struck into the London
area.
A communique said, Bombs were
dropped at a number of places.
Damage was caused and there were
number of casualties, some of
which were fatal"
Eight enemy aircraft were de-
stroyed.
The Nazi retaliation, although
light by present-day Allied bombing
standards, was the heaviest in
months and spectacular enough to
remind many Londoners of former
attacks. Guns thundered, the skies
were alight and incendiaries as well
as high explosives were dropped in
the London area and other parts of
Southeast England.
Dig for Victims.
Damage and casualties were
heavier than usual, and throughout
the early morning hours rescuers
dug for victims by the light of lamps
along the Thames Estuary.
With the Canadians participating
in heavy strength, the Raj night
bombers crossed the Channel in
45-minute after-dark procession
even at tail-enders of Yesterdays
American-British armada, estimated
at 1000 planes, were returning from
! (see RAIDS, Page A-S)