Goebbels Reverts to Terror-Reporting
Title
Goebbels Reverts to Terror-Reporting
Description
A newspaper report about operations on Frankfurt.
Language
Type
Format
One newspaper cutting
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
NHopeAD171112-02
Transcription
Empire Newsfront – INDIA
[unrelated article]
Goebbels reverts to terror-reporting
‘HELL LET LOOSE ON FRANKFURT’
Express Staff Reporter
WITH Frankfurt having two major raids in 24 hours – by the Americans in daylight on Monday and by the R.A.F. after dark – Germany yesterday reverted to horror-reporting in describing the attacks.
Goebbels took this line in propaganda early in the Battle of the Ruhr; it was dropped when Himmler, on August 25, assumed greater powers as Minister of the Interior.
Himmler, apparently thought that horror-reporting, instead of pepping up morale, had the opposite effect.
Now with round-the-clock bombing becoming fiercer than ever, Goebbels has got his own way again.
“Hell was let loose on Frankfurt” one German war reporter broadcast yesterday.
“In the morning we had the Americans, and last night the British came. Two terror attacks in 24 hours.
“For the first time in this war the people of Frankfort have been through the thick of a large-scale attack.
“This October 4 will be imprinted unforgettably in the minds of the people. Frankfort town hall went up in flames, and many other buildings became a shambles. It was sheer vandalism.”
Streets unusable
Earlier yesterday the German overseas radio said that destruction was caused in residential quarters to public building and three hospitals, “including one children’s hospital, where 150 children were buried under the debris.”
Goebbels allowed Swedish correspondents in Germany to report that 64 streets in Frankfort were made unusable by the American attack; that 3,000 houses were destroyed or almost destroyed; and that the town was without gas, water, electricity and telephone services.
Many factories were hit and the main railway station was partly destroyed by fire. Fire-fighting services were inadequate because many firemen had been called to fight the fires at Kassel caused by the R.A.F. on Sunday night.
And after all this the R.A.F. attacked with a strong force.
The general impression of our bomber crews was that the Germans were unable to make very determined defence efforts.
One pilot, who saw several night fighters, said that they did not seem anxious to attack. Many crews agreed that the ground defences went to pieces at the end of the attack.
Flak was weak
“I was one of the last to bomb.” said Pilot-Officer R.A. Hinkley, of Bournemouth, who piloted a Lancaster.
“When I arrived the ground gunners appeared to have given up, and many searchlights had gone out. Black puffs of smoke still hung in the sky from shells which had burst before we arrived. Hardly any flak came up while we were making our run, and I saw only a few gun flashes,”
Pilots of bombers who were early on the attack said that they charged through a huge belt of searchlights that seemed to stretch for miles.
When the attack had been on for a while the German fighters began laying a flare-path.
We lost 12 planes, but the Germans claimed 41.
Big “ammo” dump hit at Kassel
The huge explosion reported by most of the crews over Kassel on Sunday night is now known to have been caused by a hit on an ammunition dump at least 1,000 by 450 yards area.
The dump consisted of half buried sheds, in which the explosives were stored. On one part of the dump there is now a crater 320 feet across.
All surface buildings have been destroyed in an area of about 600 yards across, and beyond that the buildings have been partly destroyed.
[unrelated article]
Goebbels reverts to terror-reporting
‘HELL LET LOOSE ON FRANKFURT’
Express Staff Reporter
WITH Frankfurt having two major raids in 24 hours – by the Americans in daylight on Monday and by the R.A.F. after dark – Germany yesterday reverted to horror-reporting in describing the attacks.
Goebbels took this line in propaganda early in the Battle of the Ruhr; it was dropped when Himmler, on August 25, assumed greater powers as Minister of the Interior.
Himmler, apparently thought that horror-reporting, instead of pepping up morale, had the opposite effect.
Now with round-the-clock bombing becoming fiercer than ever, Goebbels has got his own way again.
“Hell was let loose on Frankfurt” one German war reporter broadcast yesterday.
“In the morning we had the Americans, and last night the British came. Two terror attacks in 24 hours.
“For the first time in this war the people of Frankfort have been through the thick of a large-scale attack.
“This October 4 will be imprinted unforgettably in the minds of the people. Frankfort town hall went up in flames, and many other buildings became a shambles. It was sheer vandalism.”
Streets unusable
Earlier yesterday the German overseas radio said that destruction was caused in residential quarters to public building and three hospitals, “including one children’s hospital, where 150 children were buried under the debris.”
Goebbels allowed Swedish correspondents in Germany to report that 64 streets in Frankfort were made unusable by the American attack; that 3,000 houses were destroyed or almost destroyed; and that the town was without gas, water, electricity and telephone services.
Many factories were hit and the main railway station was partly destroyed by fire. Fire-fighting services were inadequate because many firemen had been called to fight the fires at Kassel caused by the R.A.F. on Sunday night.
And after all this the R.A.F. attacked with a strong force.
The general impression of our bomber crews was that the Germans were unable to make very determined defence efforts.
One pilot, who saw several night fighters, said that they did not seem anxious to attack. Many crews agreed that the ground defences went to pieces at the end of the attack.
Flak was weak
“I was one of the last to bomb.” said Pilot-Officer R.A. Hinkley, of Bournemouth, who piloted a Lancaster.
“When I arrived the ground gunners appeared to have given up, and many searchlights had gone out. Black puffs of smoke still hung in the sky from shells which had burst before we arrived. Hardly any flak came up while we were making our run, and I saw only a few gun flashes,”
Pilots of bombers who were early on the attack said that they charged through a huge belt of searchlights that seemed to stretch for miles.
When the attack had been on for a while the German fighters began laying a flare-path.
We lost 12 planes, but the Germans claimed 41.
Big “ammo” dump hit at Kassel
The huge explosion reported by most of the crews over Kassel on Sunday night is now known to have been caused by a hit on an ammunition dump at least 1,000 by 450 yards area.
The dump consisted of half buried sheds, in which the explosives were stored. On one part of the dump there is now a crater 320 feet across.
All surface buildings have been destroyed in an area of about 600 yards across, and beyond that the buildings have been partly destroyed.
Collection
Citation
“Goebbels Reverts to Terror-Reporting,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 14, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/41585.