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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0377.PDF
IN NEW WARPAINT Long-range Thunderbolts operating with the "strat" force in the Mediterranean. of the usual white identification stripes. WAR in the Am .. Monte Cassino Monastery Bombed at Last: Success of Escort Carri\ Fleet and Naval Aircraft Attack Truk Naval Base Note the absence AFTER all, the Allies were obliged A\ to destroy the Monastery on •*• •*• Monte Cassino. It would appear that the Germans had not expected them to do that, as they had not forti- tvd the place with many A.A. guns. •wttresses of the U.S. 15th Army Air Force made the first attack, and their bombs blew the place apart like a house of cards, leaving a blazing in ferno inside. Theu, as the Germans ran out and scattered, the artillery opened up on them with anti-personnel shells, which apparently have taken the place of shrapnel as man-killers. No monks were seen to be escaping from the ruins, so it is supposed that they had all departed at an earlier stage. Incidentally, the leaflets warn ing all Italians to leave the vicinity were not dropped from aircraft but were also sent over by the guns in what were described as air-blast shells. General Alexander seems to have given the Press correspondents in Italy a severe talking to, for having, as he alleged, sent home alarmist reports about the prospects on the Anzio beachhead which he had just visited. He said that we had won the first round of that battle, were in the course of winning the second round, and that the third round would come when we had gathered our forces. If it is a fact, as has been reported, that the landing has drawn against it far more German divisions than the' Allies have deployed, one may begin to see the purpose behind the tactics used. This brings us to the fact that the Germans move their divisions almost entirely by night and on the roads, and that in turn draws attention to the small scale of our night bombing. There is a force of Wellingtons in the Mediterranean which works by night, and it has not received all the praise to which it is entitled. It has been working very hard. All the same, it is evidently not strong enough to act as a major deterrent to the German movements, and one wonders if there is any local reason why more night- bombers are not sent for and employed there. One realises that winding a way by night among cloud-covered mountains is not good practice, but one also questions whether such risky proceedings are the only way of hit ting at traffic on the roads behind the German lines. The Fleet Air Arm has gained further laurels in a recent battl%round a convoy. Seven German bombers, including He 177s and Fw 200s, attempted to attack the convoy about i SS^ TRIPPERS RETURN: R.A.F. Spitfires return to base after a patrol over the Anzio beaches.
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