Unescorted Flying Fortresses raided two submarine construction centers
in northern Germany during daylight yesterday.
Six bombers were lost in the two-pronged attack which carried the
USA AF's record this month to seven days of raiding on nearly three times
as many targets.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill promised an
all-out air offensive, designed to knock the Axis countries out of the war, in an
address today before a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives.
"There is no doubt." the British premier said, "that the Allied air power already
vastly outnumbers the hostile forces of Germany, Italy and Japan.
American troops have completed encirclement of the remnant of
Japanese forces on Attu island in the western Aleutians after
capturing the partially completed enemy airfield there.
Allied fighters and bombers, in mighty smash at axis
air power, destroyed 73 planes yesterday in the" greatest aerial blow
they have inflicted since the collapse of the German ground forces in
North Africa, it was announced today.
An army engineers officer expressed confidence today
some levees along the Mississippi river between St. Louis and
Cape Girardeau, Mo., could be held against rising flood waters, while
emergency civilian and military crews fought climbing river crests over
a wide area of the middle west.
THE STARS AND STRIPES
Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed forces in the European Theater of Operations
New York, N.Y.—London, England Thursday, May 20, 1943
Forts Smash U-Boat Yards Along Baltic
Unescorted Bombers
Leave Bases at Kiel,-
Flensburg in Flames
Six Planes Missing After Double Blow
At Siib Works; Incendiaries Follow
High Explosives Onto Targets
Unescorted Flying Fortresses raided two submarine construction centers
in northern Germany during daylight yesterday.
Six bombers were lost in the two-pronged attack which carried the
USA AF's record this month to seven days of raiding on nearly three times
as many targets.
The yards at Kiel, huge Nazi naval base on the Baltic side of the peninsula
which juts up from the Reich to the Danish border, and those at Flensburg,
45 miles farther up the peninsula, were left in flames after the Forts had
pushed home their attack.
Returning crews said bombing was good in spite of fierce enemy fighter
resistance which began well before the bombers reached their goal.
Kiel was attacked last Friday by U.S. heavies.
The Eighth Air Force heavies reversed the usual technique by sending in formations
carrying high explosives to attack the target first and following them w i t h
incendiary-laden ships which dumped bundle after bundle of small incendiary
bombs across the blasted U-boat yards.
In yesterdays raids bombardiers reported direct hits on construction sites,
despite the heavy smoke screens laid down by ground defenses and ships anchored
in Kiel harbor. Unofficial reports said "large numbers" of enemy fighters were
destroyed.
Early Reports Good
Knockout War
In Air Pledged
By Churchill
Premier Tells Congress
Britain Will Help Raid
Japan's Mainland
WASHINGTON, May 19 (.UP)—Prime Minister Winston Churchill promised an
all-out air offensive, designed to knock the Axis countries out of the war, in an
address today before a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives.
"There is no doubt." the British premier said, "that the Allied air power already
vastly outnumbers the hostile forces of Germany, Italy and Japan. Still more
does their output of new planes surpass the output of the enemy.
"In this air war, by which both Germany and Japan fondly imagined that
they would strike decisive and final blows, terrorize nations great and small into submission to their will—in this air war it is those guilty nations which have already
begun to show their first real mortal weakness.
Can 'Out-replace' the Axis
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., Thursday, May 20, 1943.
COMPLETE ENCIRCLEMENT OF JAPS ON ATTU
ENEMY AIRFIELD
IS CAPTURED BY
AMERICAN ARMY
Washington —(AP)— American
troops have completed encirclement of the remnant of
Japanese forces on Attu island in the western Aleutians after
capturing the partially completed enemy airfield there.
The Japanese the navy announced today, were caught in
the Chichagof Harbor area at the north eastern extremity of
Attu after United States forces captured Sarana pass
flanking the enemy's positions from the southeast. The Japanese
were fighting with their back to the sea and the sea was
commanded by American warships, which, it was officially disclosed,
have already assisted in smashing Japanese resistance.
ALLIES DESTROY
73 AXIS PLANES
IN GREAT RAIDS
Allied Headquarters in. North
Africa— (AP)—Allied fighters and bombers, in mighty smash at axis
air power, destroyed 73 planes yesterday in the" greatest aerial blow
they have inflicted since the collapse of the German ground forces in
North Africa, it was announced today.
Twenty-nine planes were shot down in fierce dog fights off Sicily
and Sardinia in an area where the
German and Italian air forces have concentrated hundreds of aircraft in
an attempt to stem the great and continuing allied onslaught and at
least 44 others were destroyed on the ground.
"Grueling Dog Fights"
Flood Waters Harass
Wide Midwest Area;
Thousands Homeless
(By the Associated Press)
An army engineers officer expressed confidence today
some levees along the Mississippi river between St. Louis and
Cape Girardeau, Mo., could be held against rising flood waters, while
emergency civilian and military crews fought climbing river crests over
a wide area of the middle west. Vern Alexander, regional hydrologic
engineer at Kansas City's weather bureau, after completing a
tour of the Missouri and Oklahoma flood areas, said he believed all
Mississippi levees between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau "will be
wiped out." The levees protect thousands of acres of rich farm'
lands.
Lt. Col. J. A. Adams, St. Louis deputy district army engineer, disagreed,
however, with Alexander's opinion. "From predicted stages,"
Adams said, "I don't think it's true "that the levees will break down,
"However, we're pretty sure we cannot hold some of them because
they'll be topped."
Adams declined, for security reasons, to name those he thought
would not hold.
Near All-Time Peak
Alexander predicted that the levees at St. Louis and East St. Louis,
Ill., will hold, although he said he believed by Saturday or Sunday the
crest at St. Louis will reach 37 ½ feet, which would be just six inches
under the second all time peak, the 38-foot level of 1903, when disastrous
floods occurred.
The St. Louis weather bureau said the stage yesterday was 32.9
feet, a rise of 2.7 feet in the last 24 hours, and predicted a. rise of 2. feet
in the next 24 hours. The all-time peak at St. Louis was 41.2 feet in
1844, Alexander said.
Halts Work in Many Areas
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