The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-06-02
5000 Planes Lash Out
Continued from Page 1)

FOrLe Afma0a Sprang Into acton against the battered Atlantic wall.
 The "very strong force" of Lber- ators and Fortresses was guarded by some 800 Thunderbolt, Light ming and Mustang fighters in an op- eration carried out entirely by the Eighth Air Force.
 Strong forces of U. $. bombers flew high over the channel toward France in the wake of British night raiders which defied dirty weather to smash at the French rail center or Saumur and the invasion coast while RAF planes from Italy hit Szolnok, Hungarian rail bottleneck 30 miles east of Budapest.
 United States headquarters an- nounced that during May the American air forces in Britain and Italy flew 49,81l sorties against Germany and occupied territory, the Flying Fortresses and Lbera- tors alone dropping bombs at a rate of more than 2,000 tons a day.
 On official summary of the mas sive aerial onslaught softening the continent for invasion revealed that U. s. airmen shot down 1,2Ss Ger mai planes in May-636 credited to bomber crew1nen and 632 to. fighters.
 American losses were s4l heavy bonIberS and 235 fighters--a ratio of 1.59 per cent of the bombers engaged and 1.l9 per cert of the fighters.
 Stormy weather closed over weet- ern Europe at the end of the month, slowing the pace of the aerial of- fensive to a walk. The skies over the channel cleared today, however, and waiting American bombers went into action after a relatively qLiet day and nght in which much of the continent was shrouded in clouds.
 The RAF sent a comparatively small force against the enemy last night to keep him off balance while while the main striking fleets ewre waiting for better weather. ghL-tse HA :8BYPPU
 Big Lancasters smashed for the second straight night at Saumur, 100 miles inland from St. Nazaire between Nantes and Tours, while other night raiders stabbed at the mysterious German installations on the French coast and mosquitoes attacked unidentified objectives in Denmark.
 LancaSters
 The LancaSters battled thick clouds going into France, but the skies cleared over the target. Smoke rolled up from the Saumur rail yards in such volume that Path finder planes had to return and drop fresh markers to set off the target for the later waves of bomb- CTS.
 The official review of U. s. aerial operations last month revealed that flying fortresSes and Liberators of the 8th and 18th Air Forces in Britain and Italy paced the air war over Europe with an unprecedented assault on Germany, the Balkans and other occupied territory.
 The two forces carried the pre- invasion bombardment to every cor ner of Adolf Hitler's continental fortress and dealt staggering blows against the German Air Force, while the American losses were drop ping.
 Several hundred locomotives were damaged or destroyed by low level fighter strafing and a large number of parked aircraft were shot Up on the ground" the summary said.
 Eighteen of the rail yards in western Europe suffered severe damage, while eight others re- ceived considerable damage. Air. craft from xhe United Kingdom operated 27 days during the month and aircraft from Italy on 2l days"
 Bigger BOmberS
 Hundreds of the RATS biggest bombers based in this country paced the night assault with raids on the railway center at Saumer, 100 miles inland from St. Nazaire on the Bay of Biscay coast, and on Germany's west wall defenses near the French coast.
 Swift twin-engined Mosquitoes rounded out the British -based at- tacks, from which all planes re- turned, with a thrust at an uniden- tified objective in Denmark.
 Flying from Italy, 100 to 25O RAF Halifaxes, Lberators and Yelling tons penetrated Hungary and bombed railway tragets at 6zolnok, 90 miles east of Budapest, through which pass troops and supplies for the German armies in Romania. A Wellington gunner shot down a German night fighter after it had made six separate attacks on the British planes.
 Block busters and fire bombs ripped up tracks. set Germany's carefully-hoarded rolling stock fire and destroyed repair shops and other installations at both Szolnok and Saumur. It was the second raid on Saumur in as many nights
 Through Saumur on the main kw.ssab ltaM hakus@Ma nnnan aMAt