Munich Plastered Again: Terrific 25-Minute Blitz
Title
Munich Plastered Again: Terrific 25-Minute Blitz
Description
A newspaper article about an attack on Munich. It is annotated 'No 14 2/10/43'.
Temporal Coverage
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
SWilliamsonF1311249v10003-0018
Transcription
[inserted] No 14 2/10/43 [/inserted]
MUNICH PLASTERED AGAIN: TERRIFIC 25-MINUTE BLITZ
WITHIN 48 hours of the daylight attack by Africa-based Flying Fortresses, Munich had another plastering on Saturday night – this time by home-based R.A.F. bombers.
The R.A.F. attack was well concentrated, but only nine bombers were lost. The operations included mine-laying in enemy waters and the bombing of objectives in the Ruhr and Rhineland.
The night attack was carried out by Lancasters and was completed in about 25 [missing word] During that period ten 4,000-lb. bombs were dropped every minute.
Our bombers had the advantage of thick cloud, which lasted until they were well inside Germany, and handicapped the enemy's large force of night fighters.
Big Flare Path
"A fairly heavy barrage was going up when we reached the target," a Lancaster pilot said. "But as we started on our bombing run, enemy aircraft fired off red cartridges and the flak died down almost at once.
"Strings of flares came down from a good height, released so as to form a bright white flare-path one-way into the target.
"We had dropped our bombs by then, but we circled round the target to see how the attack was going. Flares were still going down, but no combats took place while we were in the target area, although there must have been many fighters about."
After releasing their bomb load a Lancaster crew had to fight a long battle with a Messerschmitt 110.
The mid-upper and rear-gunners fired more than 1,000 rounds before they beat off the fighter.
Lancaster Blaze
Smoke came from the Messerschmitt's port engine and it dived away. But the Lancaster had been hit and fire broke out in the fuselage.
The flames crept nearer to the oxygen bottles, and although the crew worked hard with extinguishers they did not get the fire under control until the bomber had lost 7,000 feet.
The Lancaster got home safely and none of the crew was hurt.
Munich enjoys the "distinction" of being the first German city to suffer our two-way bombing raids.
As a prominent Air Ministry official, writes a [italics] Daily Sketch [/italics] correspondent, put it to me yesterday; "It is an earnest of the things to come. Raids on German cities or appropriate targets in enemy-occupied territory will now come from Britain or the Mediterranean or both in one day just as the Allied High Command decides." (See Page 5.)
Saturday's raid on Emden by Flying Fortresses escorted by Thunderbolts was led by Brigadier-General Robert W. Travis, who declared the mission "exceptionally executed." "It went off like a military drill," he said.
Although no details are available of the number of 'planes taking part, the raid is understood to have been heavy. The Fortresses destroyed 14 enemy fighters and the Thunderbolts five.
MUNICH PLASTERED AGAIN: TERRIFIC 25-MINUTE BLITZ
WITHIN 48 hours of the daylight attack by Africa-based Flying Fortresses, Munich had another plastering on Saturday night – this time by home-based R.A.F. bombers.
The R.A.F. attack was well concentrated, but only nine bombers were lost. The operations included mine-laying in enemy waters and the bombing of objectives in the Ruhr and Rhineland.
The night attack was carried out by Lancasters and was completed in about 25 [missing word] During that period ten 4,000-lb. bombs were dropped every minute.
Our bombers had the advantage of thick cloud, which lasted until they were well inside Germany, and handicapped the enemy's large force of night fighters.
Big Flare Path
"A fairly heavy barrage was going up when we reached the target," a Lancaster pilot said. "But as we started on our bombing run, enemy aircraft fired off red cartridges and the flak died down almost at once.
"Strings of flares came down from a good height, released so as to form a bright white flare-path one-way into the target.
"We had dropped our bombs by then, but we circled round the target to see how the attack was going. Flares were still going down, but no combats took place while we were in the target area, although there must have been many fighters about."
After releasing their bomb load a Lancaster crew had to fight a long battle with a Messerschmitt 110.
The mid-upper and rear-gunners fired more than 1,000 rounds before they beat off the fighter.
Lancaster Blaze
Smoke came from the Messerschmitt's port engine and it dived away. But the Lancaster had been hit and fire broke out in the fuselage.
The flames crept nearer to the oxygen bottles, and although the crew worked hard with extinguishers they did not get the fire under control until the bomber had lost 7,000 feet.
The Lancaster got home safely and none of the crew was hurt.
Munich enjoys the "distinction" of being the first German city to suffer our two-way bombing raids.
As a prominent Air Ministry official, writes a [italics] Daily Sketch [/italics] correspondent, put it to me yesterday; "It is an earnest of the things to come. Raids on German cities or appropriate targets in enemy-occupied territory will now come from Britain or the Mediterranean or both in one day just as the Allied High Command decides." (See Page 5.)
Saturday's raid on Emden by Flying Fortresses escorted by Thunderbolts was led by Brigadier-General Robert W. Travis, who declared the mission "exceptionally executed." "It went off like a military drill," he said.
Although no details are available of the number of 'planes taking part, the raid is understood to have been heavy. The Fortresses destroyed 14 enemy fighters and the Thunderbolts five.
Collection
Citation
“Munich Plastered Again: Terrific 25-Minute Blitz,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 19, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/38145.
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