The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-03-24
|Nazis Duck Air Fight
tcnntlnuoA rom Pare D

CContlnued lrom Page D saulls on tho Reich earlier this week, but carried on on Allied of- fenslve of record proportions which had been pressed through the night by British attacks on Lyon and Iaon in France and on Dortmundl Germany.
 The Evening Standard estimated that 200, 900 American and British women had been over Germany In major attacks sheet he cir war en- tered the new and intensified stage.
 One group of T1lnderbolt fight CTS of the bristllng air shield maiEl- tained around the bombers today shot down thre German fightefs, but early reports indicated the Nazis were staying clear of the raid- ing formations as they have done lately except for . desperate defense effort over two German cities yes- terday.
 Mustang pilots Shepherdlng tho fortresses over one tRrged, flushed Q Junkers b2 transport which almost got tangled in an American forTna- ton but escaped into the clouds.
 1st It. Richard P. Knapp, St. Louis, pilot of the fortress, Black Magic, reported that his target had given us trouble in the past, but everything was smooth as silk to- day, I do not think our combat wing lost single ship. The weather was pretty bad and Q complete cloud was over the target"
 Fighter pilots said they saw holes in the cludS, and believed ground conditions In Germany probably were such that the Luftwaffe could have gotten up If u had wanted to.
 Tn cfortresSes and Liberators picked Up the day and night offen- sive from Royal Air Force boinberH which hit the French rail hubs of Laon and Lyon while light Mosquito bombers jabbed ct Dortmund, andus- trial center of the Ruhr.
 Todays attacks by the heavy boinbers set Q new record for the number of attacks on German tar- gets in c single month. They were the 18th operation from British bases and the 18th against obJec. lives In Germany. topping the prevl- ous high of i8 in February.
 "StrOng Force" Tho fact that United States head. quarters, ii announcing the new attacks, omitted the designation of "strong" forces indicated that the Fortress and Liberator formations comprised no more than 260 heavy bognbeFs each in the twin operations.
 The initial German radio reports also suggested that today's attacks were well short of those of the last two days, when American forces Rpproximatlng 1900 planes each day hit Berlin and northwest Germany air bases and industrial ceilters.
 The first German warning was broadcast at 6 Q. n. (i0 q. H., EWTD and noon q Q. In., EWTD the NazIs said the last planes had left the Reich.
 The new raids were expected to booSt the tonnage of bombs dropped on Germany in the past 4e hours alone to at least 7,b00, as much as was unioaded on London during the entire il-nonth blitz of i040-4I.
 A special American announce. nlent disclosed that the >l,600 or more American bomberS and fight. CTS which blasted Brunswick and aircraft installations in northwest Germany yesterday whittled ail- other chunk out of the shrinking Nazl air force by shooting down 0l enemy planes against c loss Of 8 of their own.
 Switching the main weight of the Allied air offensive back teInporar- fly to France, British four-engined' bolnbers last night raided railway targets at Laeon, on the Paris-Brus- sells line, and other objectlveS at the eastern France junction Of Lyon.
 RAr Moqulto bomhers attacked Dortmund, Ruhr industrial center, and other targets in western Ger many. Mine-laying operations com pleted the RAFs night operations, in which two aircraft were lost.
 The all.out pre- invasion aerial of- fensiVe against Germany went into It's peak phase Wednesday with an American raid on Berlin that was followed by the heaviest air assault ever made on Q single city-a B. 360.ton raid on FTankfurt-that night and l,600-plane attack on northwest and central Germany yesterday.
 The official German DINE agency acknowledged "heavy damage" in Brunswick and Munster, but in- sisted 1t was concentrated in resi-. dcntial districts.
 Normal telephone communicate between Sweden and Berlin was re- stored at 9 p. m. last night, some 38 hours after the American daylight raid Wednesday, the longest break Tn communications with the capital Of the war
 London had brief air raid alarm last night for the third straight night. Some flares were dropped by German planes, but no bombing in- cidents were reported.
 Bombing from an altitude of 25,- 900 feet, the Americans scored di- rect hits yesterday on the principal bridge at Hamm which carries the the city'S major rail links with Emden and Hamburg across the river.
 American headquarters reported the hits but did not claim destruc- ton of the bridge. But direct strikes with heavy bombs undoubt- edly would take the bridge out of action, seriously crippling the value of Hamm as Ruhr railroad center.
 Of the days bog of 6l enemy air. craft. the heavy bombers shot down 39 and escorting fighters of both the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces ace counted for the remaining 9.