Munich area hit in greatest U.S. raid
1,200 bombers strike; South France also hit
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer
London, England –
More than 1,200 heavy bombers, in the war’s greatest U.S. raid on a single target, bombed the Munich area for the second time in 24 hours today, while 250-500 Liberators based in the Mediterranean area attacked railway yards in Nîmes and Miramas in southern France.
The fleet from the Mediterranean encountered few enemy fighters in its attack on the railyards at Nîmes, 35 miles southwest of Avignon, and at Miramas, 35 miles south of Avignon. It also attacked two rail bridges, one on the Riviera line over the Var River, the other on the same line at Théoule-sur-Mer, near Cannes.
Luftwaffe belittled
The two-way attack was carried out with such little fighter opposition that a high officer of the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe, observing that German air losses have exceeded production since January, said the Luftwaffe was no longer a major factor on any front.
It came, too, as SHAEF announced that Allied Air Forces during June had dropped 27,000 tons of bombs on Germany and German-occupied territories.
In support of British troops on the Normandy Peninsula, meanwhile, U.S. twin-engined bombers struck at supply depots of German mechanized forces backed up on the Orne River line south of Caen.
Attack fuel dump
Two forces of 9th Air Force Marauders, operating a quarter of an hour apart, attacked a big fuel dump in the forest of Cinglais, 10 miles south of Caen – and incidentally punished concentrations of troops in the area.
Other Marauders went after other fuel dumps along a secondary supply line farther behind the front, striking one in Forêt d’Écouves, 30 miles east of the front, and another at Forêt d’Andaine, eight miles east.
Due to continued adverse weather, the Munich raiders again were forced to drop their bombs through clouds by means of instruments and were unable to observe the results.
Opposed by flak
The fact that the Americans attacked again over a cloud floor and the German radio failed to mention heavy air battles indicated the Fortresses and Liberators probably made the 1,000-mile roundtrip to Munich opposed only by flak.
Munich’s last 24 hours have been one of the worst any city has experienced during the war. The total time of the great bomber formations spent over the city in the two raids was scarcely more than one hour, but in those 60 minutes, it was estimated they unload 6,300 tons down on the city of 680,000 persons – the fourth largest city in Germany.
A dispatch from Zürich, meanwhile, reported that three U.S. bombers had landed in Switzerland.
Take half hour to pass
Early indications were that the raid was one of the largest Allied aerial offensives in several days.
One formation along required a half hour to pass over the southeast coast of England and when it returned several hours later passed another large force heading toward Calais.
During the night, RAF Mosquito bombers again struck into Germany, attacking industrial objectives in the Ruhr, while other British bombers, escorted by Spitfires, raided the German flying bomb installations in northern France. Both operations were carried out without loss.