The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-06-19
Robot Bombs Still Rain
(NEA Telephoto)
Continued from Page D

torpedoes firing bursts that fre- quently disintegrated them harm lessly in the air.
 The RAF apparently had uncov- cred a weak spot in the robots structure and all reports indicated the flyers were now able to blast them out of the air with long-range machine gun fire.
 Official sources said many of the bombs had been destroyed by anti aircraft crews and the fighter pa- trols, and Allied bombers were keep ing their launching runways on the French coast under steady attack.
 London observers believed the runways had been erected along the straits area almost as far south as Dieppe, because of the course taken by the robots as they sped in at 300 to 400 miles an hour.
 Meanwhile, German broadcasts hammered on the theme that Lon- don is the chief target for the nonstop bombardment because 1t is "the technical heart of the invas- ion and the brains of the Allied war machine in Europe"
 Berlin Propaganda
 Berlin propaganda stories circu- lating in Stockholm said the Nazis still have two weeks supply of pilotless bombers, suggesting that the Germans may be preparing to abandon their new weapon then.
 The Germans, who christened their craft Hell Hounds, painted fanciful accounts of terrible devas- tation" wrought by the robot planes in London and Southern England and began limiting that larger and more powerful rocket planes" cap. able of reaching the United States were being built.
 A Madrid dispatch said Axis propogandists in Spain were claim- ing that new super-rockets would be directed against skyscrapers and industrial targets in the United States, "causing wholesale destruc- ton of such dimensions that the U. s. Air Force would receive ur- gent instructions to cease bombing European targets"
 Madrid Sceptical
 Even Madrids falangist news paper Arriba refused to believe that the new rockets would have any effect on the outcome of the war, however, contendlng that the roc- kets would be conquered as easily as gas in the last war.
 Allied sources were inclined to ridicule suggestions that Germany was building "trans- atlantic ez Farockets etaoinshrdlucmfwypp rockets, but the air correspondents of the London Daily Telegraph said the enemy was believed to have much larger types" of rocket bomba in production.
 German news agencies acknowl- edged that they were only guessing at the amount of destruction they claimed had been wrought in south ern England by the new Nazi wea- pon. but they excused this by saying that a thick, impenetrable pail of smoke and clouds hid the entire Thames area from reconnaissance planes.
 The smoke particularly was heavy over the Woolwich arsenal, the Transocean agency said, but ex- plosions were observed in the vicin- ity. Radio Berlin said returning pi- lots told of extensive fires and huge explosions" in southern England.
 Big Ben Hit
 German press reports reaching Sweden said one reconnaissance plane found that the Big Ben clock tower at the corner of the Houses of Parliament in London had been hit and had collapsed.
 (T'his may have been deduced by Nazi propagandisst from the an- nouncement by the British Broad casting Corporation that 1t would broadcast recordings of the chim- ing of Big Ben rather than the act- ual sound of the bells themselves.)
 The latest bombing incidents car- ried Germany's pilotless bomber of- fensive into its fifth day. Though details were lacking, British author tiles acknowledged that the Robot planes had caused damage and cas- ualt1es" during the night in South ern England---under which the Brit ish now group all England, includ. ing London, south of line from Bristol in the west to the Wash in the east.
 Convent Destroyed
 Rocket bombs yesterday destroyed convent, killing three persons; razed a group of houses, in which five bodies were recovered and eight other persons were missing; wrecked a church, killing a number of wor- shippers, and hit shelter, trapping a number of persons.
 The most serious incident reported Saturday night was the destruction of all but one small building at a hospital. American soldiers aided in digging through the debris for the dead. At least 10 persons were known to have been killed.
 A small force of American four engined LAberators attacked the Pas De Calais coast of France--supposed launching site of the rocket bombs yesterday afternoon and similar force of Marauders and Havocs bombed the same area at dusk.