Evening star., 1944-03-10
Raj Bombers Attack
German Air Factory
In Southern France
Goering Reported on
Way Out as Result
Of u. S. Berlin Ruids
By the Associated Press.

! LONDON, Mar. 10.-Britain's
four-engined Lancasters, strik-
ing again at Germany's aircraft
production, reached far into
Southern France last night and
bombed the large factory at
Marignane, near Marseille, the
Air Ministry announced today.
The Raj strike kept Allied aerial
blows going around the clock fol-
lowing yesterdays bombing OF Berlin
through dense clouds by the Amer
lean 9th Air Force.
The devastating success of Ameri-
can day raids on Berlin, in which at
lease 324 Nazi planes have been de-
stroyed, has precipitated a crisis
among top-ranking men of the Ger
man Air Force wit ha sweeping re-
organization now in progress, the
London Daily Mail said yesterday in
a Stockholm dispatch quoting
neutral sources.
Under the changes directed by
Hitler, the dispatch said, Reich
marshal Hermann Goering will take
a back seat and the younger men
with more specialized knowledge OF
fighter defense will get power.
Utterly Bewildered.
The dispatch described Goering as
utterly bewildered by the strength
of the Allied aerial blows" and said
that "he stands outside his villa in
the Berlin suburbs gazing vacantly
at the sky"
The Air Ministry communique
telling of last nights operation said
the large aircraft factory at Marig-
name was attacked in bright moon
light and first reports indicated the
bombing as accurate and copcen-
trated.
At the same time Mosquitoes, CIV
ing Western Germany no respite
struck objectives in that area.
The Air Ministry said none of its
planes was missing.
Third Precision Raid in Month.
The Lancaster raid was the RAF's
third night precision attack on Ger
man aircraft factories in France in
month.
On February similar force US
ing the new six-ton factory buster
bomb, hit the Gnome -Rhone air.
plane engine factory at Limoges, and
on March 2 smashed at plants near
Paris and Albert in Northern France
A United States communique last
night said yesterdays blow against
the Reich capital and a co-ordinated
raid on unspecified objectives in
Central Germany-identified by the
Berlin radio as Hanover - cost
seven heavy bombers and one fight
er, figures that contrasted sharply
with SO bombers and II fighters lost
Monday.
Although the Flying Fortresses
Liberators and their escorting Mus
tangs, Thunderbolts and Lightnings
plunged through heavy antiaircraft
fire to reach yesterdays targets
most of the German airforce appar-
entity was grounded.
Minor Encounters.
The American flyers reported only
minor encounters with the enemy
and made no claims Of any Naz
planes destroyed.
1t was the second day in success.
sion and the fourth time in six days
that American bombers had re-
turned to the fire-blackened Ger.
man capital.
Those raids have cost 1913 Amer.
lean planes - l37 bombers and 81
flghters-as against the minimum O
324 German planes known for Ger
tain to have been destroyed.
No accurate assessment Of the new
punishment inflicted on Berlin b,
the Americans has yet become avail
able, but Stockholm dispatch
quoted traveller as declaring "it ha
ceased to be a capital or even T;
town." The Cairo radio, quoting
another Swedish report, said tn,
city had been without electricity, ga.
and water all this week.
Another Swedish traveller said the
Germans are convinced that Ameri-
can bombers must have some new
weapon" making possible such pin
point accuracy as the destruction OF
the ball-bearing works and tank
plants in Erkener, southern suburb
Of Berlin. He said more than SOC
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