Aachen, May 20.
Nightly raids by Allied planes on the frontier areas have failed to depress the morale of the population or interrupt the busy life of the vital Ruhr industrial region, the United Press Correspondent from Berlin learned yesterday and today in travelling toward the front from Berlin in German military cars.
Throughout the day he drove with other foreign correspondents who comprised a party sponsored by the German High Command. He saw crowds of Sunday strollers and groups of children. The children cheered gaily as their army cars passed. "They waved at us with flowers in their little hands. They were laughing and seemed apparently unconcerned," he reported. "Signs of war, however, were not lacking. Outside Hannover we halted to examine the wreckage of a British bomber which was shot down last night. It was a mass of twisted metal. Its crew of five parachuted to safety. Four of the men were captured, but the other was still at large, German officers told us.—United Press.
Oil depots at Bremen were subjected to repeated attacks by relays Whitley bombers for more than five hours. More than 300 high explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped on this target. A direct nit scored earlier in a raid on a large petrol storage tank resulted in a terrific explosion from which vast sheets of flame shot up to a height of nearly 2,000 feet.
At Hamburg oil depots were systematically bombed by large forces of Hampden aircraft in a series of raids beginning soon after 10 p.m. and not ending until dawn. An explosion of a salvo of heavy bombs was followed by a terrific gush of flame. The outburst of fire was visible from as far away as Cuxhaven.
Other petroleum depots in the area, seme of which were first located by the aid of parachute flares, were attacked with equally evident results. Fires started with incendiery bombs were seen to spread rapidly and they helped to guide following aircraft through the scene to complete the destruction of targets. Vast clouds of acrid black smoke, certain proof' of the oil-fed ckarecter of raging fires. were rolling slowly over the area as the last of the raiders left Hamburg.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.