Evening star., 1944-05-15
Raids
Continued From First Page J

accomplished by Italy biased Ameri-
can Flying Fortresses Saturday, was
followed up by a 1,000-plane assault
yesterday on German-held airfields
and railyards in Northern Italy
rounding out a solid month of
round the clock attacks by Allied
airmen who flew 10000 offensive
flights and dropped 10000 tons of
bombs on Europe.
In their strike against the Bren-
ner Pass line hand-picked bombar-
diers attacked the ,500-foot-long
Avision Viaduct, scoring hits at the
northern and southern ends and
probably in the middle. It was one
of three strikes against the 81-mile
Brenner gap through the Alps.
There is no alternate route at the
viaduct section and its destruction
would stop traffic. *ft '&:est
Yesterdays assaults against six
rail yards and two artery fields in
the Pc Valley had good results. Reu-
ters News Agency estimated 500 to
750 heavy bombers were employed in
these assaults.
Showing the enormous air
strength thrown into the support of
the 5th and 9th Armies in their
offensive against the Gustav Line,
Mediterranean Air Force headquar-
ters announced its planes had flown
1850 sorties during the week end
ing Saturday. More than $500 sor-
ties were flown yesterday.
More than 80 enemy aircraft were
| sighted during the day, of which 10
were shot down, the Mediterranean
Army Air Force reported. Six AL
lied planes were reported missing
and one additional plane was
downed Saturday night, the report
added.
While heavy bombers unleashed a
barrage of blows at the railroad
yards in the Pc Valley, medium
bombers, plus fighter bombers,
slashed rail communications be-
tween Rome and Florence.
Fighters roared down enemy air.
fields throughout Italy, destroying
parked planes and harassing all
highway transport activity sighted
along the roads leading to the Gus
tav and Hitler lines.
The heavy bombers hammered
rail functions at Padua, Ferrara
Vicenza, Treviso, Mestre, Mantua
and Piove di Sacca, and in addition
plastered airfields at Piacenza and
Reggie Emilia.
Tracks and bridges south of Flor
ence and beyond Rome were targets
of medium, light and fighter bomb
ers. Several tracks were cut and
spans destroyed.
Air fields at Aviano, Villa Orba
and Rivolta were strafed by fight
ers, who destroyed an unreported
number of enemy aircraft. The
Raj took over the night tasks with
both medium and heavy bombers
blasting railroad bridges at Latti-
sana, Casarsa and an oil refinery at
Porto Niagara.
The appearance Of more than sc
enemy planes over the battle area
indicated the Italian arm of the
LuftWaffe, which has been mostly
dormant during this offensive, was
being unleashed, although sparingly
On the opening day not a single
Allied sortie was challenged. Addi.
tional enemy aircraft were sighted
on long range missions into North
ern Italy.
The month of intensive air Wal
from Britain and Italy was in itsel1
one of the greatest battles of the
war. 1t cost the lives of severa
thousand British and American air.
men and perhaps an equal or great
er number were captured.
800 U. S. Bombers Lost.
Losses from British bases alone
were about 800 American heavy
bombers, each of which carries a
crew of 10. In 40 major attacks
the RAP lost nearly as many more
But these air battles cost the
Germans about TOO planes and one
of the objects of the campaign is to
knock the German air force out. of
the air.
While results of the air prelude
canot be assessed accurately unit
Allied ground forces penetrate
Western Europe, it likely created
considerable disruption of anti
invasion supply and reinforcement
lines, some destruction of Atlantic
wall defenses, ammunition and sup
plies, destruction of basic war sup
ply sources behind the lines and
further whiting down of the
Reich's plane-building ability.