The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-06-16

Observers said the proJecLueS Caule over at terrific speeds, singly or in uroupg of two or three, some soar fnr 5000 feet or more in the air and others slamming over the root- tops in level flight.
 RAP night fighter pilots went up to challenge the robot raiders, div- Ing recklessly through terrific hall Of flax thrown up by the British ground defenses in an effort to ex- plode them in mid-air.
 Many of the projectiles were De- lieved to have been hit and eye witnesses reported seeing tremend- ous explosions high overhead.
 Many more fell with terrific in1- nact on the countryside, and pre- iininary reports indicated that con- siderable damage and casualties re- suited. Rescue squads still were digging through the wreckage for victims in 8 number of southern ols- aricts this afternoon. Accounts of the bombing agreed bn four major points:
 i. The missiles travelled at tre- 1nendous speed.
 2. All were equipped with bright tail and fuselage lights which flashes off just before the projec- tiles exploded;
 3. They gave off a trail of fire and sparks, apparently from exhaust gases;
 4. They travelled in a remarkably straight course.
 Pilots at one Americsan base 1n the south gave a vivid description .of the mysterious enemy weapon, although they differed on details.
 5000 Feet High
 They reported seeing three nghteo objects resembling balls Of lire which moved across the sky at height of about 5000 feet with noise like giant washing machine.
 One flyer said they resembled tiny, 4win-enginer monoplanes. but Sta11 Sgt. Alfred J. FloCry, 2o, Yonkers' N. Y. said:
 "No man around here could say exactly what he saw. They can only say By God, we think 1t was the secret weapon they are always talk ing about" .,s the robot bombs appeared to pc painted black or dark brown ana streaked across the sky with shuddering roar.
 one man who fell to the ground when he heard the blast of an ex- pioding bomb was lifted to his feet and thrown several yards away by the cOncusSion.
 Tn another area, a soldier on leave was lifted out of his bathtub ana thrown into the sink.
 Two Nurses Hit Two nurses and a number oi patients were injured in hospital that received a direct hit.
 Tho alarm began around II O. clock last night and continued throuRhout the early hours today, rivinW southern England its longest ekand-to since the blitZ of 14O-l4l.
 German propagandists broadcast ed lurid accounts of the new mys. fery weapons deadly effect ana declared repeatedly that the ropot bombs were Hitler's retaliation TOT the Anglo-American terror" ralos 1n the Reich. .
 The British public. alerted for months to the possibility of German Tenrisals. took the attack in stride ana with confidence that he new weapon would be blunted by Allied defense techniques.
 One little man in worn tweed coat. who has seen every type ol plane Hitler has sent across the coast, puffed calmly on his pipe:
 Tt looked like a bloody long 1lsn with tail light. to me"
 Fire watchers saw and nearo number of the fantastic Naz planes anparently Rocket-propelled glider boInbs launched from somewhere on the Pas De Calais coast of Northern France.
 e"One seemed to be flying very q0w and I thought 1t was going to crash into a row of houses nearby 4 warden reported. The search lights apparently were trying to hold it ir their beams. but they did not succeed"
 Disclosure that the NaIs were throwing in their long-hearldeor mystery weapon in desperate ei- fort to smash the huge Allied. nili- tary power massed in Britain came in a statement to the House oi Commons by Home Secretary Her bert Morrison.
 Morrison told the House that New of the new pilotleSS bomoers were sent against England Tuesday morning and large numbers last night and this morning.
 He warned that the attacks may be expected to continue even m davlirht, although he emphasized fhat counter-measure were being taken to nullify this latest enemy threat.
 Prime Minister Winston Churchill forecast German use Of pilotieSS planes or Rockets last February when he told Commons that the Nazis were preparing to launch some such attack from mystery 1n- ekaliations on the French coast.
 Again in March the Prime Minis fer repeated his warning, adding that: s.Britain can take 1t. She has never failed or fiinched."
 Eyewitness accounts of the nigns attack on Southern England said the raiders appeared over some roints at intervals of approximately 20 to 30 minutes.
 Midget Planes
 1nese reports said they resembi- a midget planes or giant scale Faadels that scared in at high speed Narely above the rooftops. Most Hscounts agreed that the weapons A1k a fiery trail in their wake, in- &2cating they were Rockets. al- though some fire watchers said they saw similar craft which appeared to be motor-propelled.
 Dispatches from Stockholm as