World: Data on Germany

For its last night raid in explosive June, the R.A.F. again chose Cologne. Afterward, the Germans rated Cologne the hardest hit of all their hard-hit cities. The Nazi accounts said that the famed Cathedral, undamaged in earlier raids, had been destroyed by hits in its central nave and on its twin towers. British accounts, based on reconnaissance photographs, showed “some roof damage” on the north transept. Near the cathedral were two military targets: the main railway station (badly damaged) and the Hohenzollern railway bridge across the Rhine. For its first night raid in July the R.A.F. chose Cologne yet again, and for 45 minutes the ravaged city shook under its 118th bombing of the war.

R.A.F. reconnaissance cameramen brought back British testimony to the savagery and effectiveness of the air offensive. A picture released last week showed the deadened waste of Düsseldorf, which has taken more than 4,000 tons of bombs since March 1. No part of the city had been spared. Homes and factories suffered alike and now stand gutted and roofless. This scene, already multiplied several times over in the Ruhr, was proof of what enough bombers and bombs, sent often enough against a target, can do to a city, a region or a country.