Evening star., 1944-03-07
176 German Aircraft Shot Down,
Record Total Of SO Bombers Lost
In Big u. S. Day Attack on Berlin
1000 Tons of
Bombs Ruined on
Burning Capital
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LONDON, Mar. THE great
American air fleets which at
tackled Berlin yesterday knocked
176 Nazi planes from the sky,
but lost SO our-engined bombers
in one of the greatest plane bat
ties Of the war, United States
Army headquarters disclosed to-
day.
RAF night bombers kept the at
tack rolling, with heavy blow last
night on railway targets at Trappes,
France, Is miles southwest of Paris,
and Mosquito bombers darted
against targets in Northwest Ger
many, all without loss.
A cloud of American Marauders
flashed over Northern France by
daylight today to pound military
objectives there, protected by a can
opy of fighters.
Berlin admitted that several
hundred" bombers reached the cap
ital yesterday.
More than $50 American bomb
ers dropped more than 1000 tons
Of bombs on burning Berlin, and
in the swirling aerial battles all the
way from the Dutch coast to the
capital gunners of Flying Fortresses
and Liberators bagged 90 enemy
planes while fighter escorts shot
down 80.
Record Bomber Loss.
1t was the second highest single
days score in victories for the
United States Air Forces. The rec
ord still is the BOT German planes
downed during the Schweinfurt and
Regensburg raids last August 18.
But the bombers suffered record
loss. Sixty-eight of the big craft
and II fighter planes plunged down.
About TOO highly trained airmen
were lost.
The great daylight attack on the
heart OF Germany was flaming
warning that virtually no section of
the Reich is safe from round the
clock bombing and it caught the
imagination of Britons. British
newspapers cheered it as major
victory, marking tremendous new
phase in the air war.
The Air Ministry said first reports
on last nights raid at Trappes in
dicated the bombing was accurate
and well concentrated" The planes
may have carried the six new 6-ton
ock-busters.
Great Devastation in Berlin.
The blow on Berlin was delivered
with the full weight of the United
States 9th Air Force.
Photographs brought back by
Maj. Walton l.. Weitner of Yonkers,
N. Y. reconnaissance pilot who
flew alone in an unarmed plane
over Berlin, showed numerous fires
and great devastation were left
among high priority war plants and
other targets plastered by the Fort
resses and Liberators, American
aerial experts said. ..
Sending up barTage Of rockets,
0-millimeter shells and f1ak-in-
Guiding a rocket-type which crew.
men said burst in geysers as big as
haystacks"-theN NaZi defenders made
virtual hell in the skies and Great
ed scene over Berlin which one
Liberator gunner described as
"Dante's Inferno"
But even the German radio
while claiming that 140 American
planes, including 118 bombers, were
downed-admitted that major por-
ton of the bombers broke Through.
Airdrome Is Bombed.
Travellers reaching Sweden said
the American attack was delivered
between l and pm. and was con-
centrated on the northern and east
ern sections of Berlin. One bomb,
they said, dropped on Tempelhof
Airdrome.
A Stockholm dispatch disclosed
that three of the American heavy
bombers made forced landings in
Sweden and fourth came down on
the island Of Gotland, off the south
eastern Swedish coast.
The United States communique
said: Divisions of heavy bombers,
escorted by very large formation
of fighters. attacked factories, air
fields and other military installa-
tions in the metropolitan district of
Berlin today with good results"
An American air division numbers
from 420 to 730 planes.
Unlike Saturdays assault on the
capital by one formation of For
tresses, yesterdays great raid found
the Nazi Air Force lying in wait
for an all-out effort to repel the
attack.
only 10 minutes from the target
the Germans lined up In front of us
and really came in" one pilot said
There were hordes of them and
they came at us in waves-ME-4l0s
first and then FW-l9Os and ME-
109s."
They just lined up tail to tai
and started circling us like Indian.
used to make war on a lone covered
wagon" said another flyer in de.
scribing an attack by 10 Nazi fight.
ers against his Fortress which hae
dropped behind his formation.
When people say there is no more
Luftwaffe, you can tell them they're
nuts" said a waist gunner.
Doolittle Lauds Fighters.
Maj. Gen. James H Doolittle, com.
mander of the 9Th Air Force, yester.
day praised the magnificent sup.
port" given bombers in the last fiv.
days by fighters of the United State.
9th Tactical Air Force.
Gen. Doolittle said the effective
ness of the heavy bombers' attack
was greatly increased and losses wer,
greatly reduced because of the fight
ers.
Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, com
mander of the 9th Air Force, relayet
the message to his Mustang ant
Thunderbolt pilots, adding that h
also joined In the praise.