Ravaged Ruhr

R.A.F. reconnaissance last week gave evidence that bombing had cut the Ruhr's industrial output 35%. Some of the more important centers had suffered even more. More than 1,000 acres of Duesseldorf, western Germany's most important commercial city, were devastated in a single raid on June 11. Not only its factories, but administrative and engineering quarters, which serve much of the whole Ruhr sector, were destroyed. Seven days after the raid fires could still be seen smoldering.

Of the giant Krupp's 300 buildings in the Essen region, 200 were so badly damaged as to force complete shutdowns. Virtual demolition of one truck-assembly plant probably cost the German Army between 750 and 1,000 trucks. A large locomotive shop was destroyed by fire, which means that by September the Nazis will be missing about 150 badly needed locomotives which they might otherwise have had.

As the entire valley is crisscrossed by vital rail lines, virtually every Ruhr raid has struck hard at transport facilities. All the valley's traffic is now badly disrupted. Wholesale evacuation of refugees from the bomb-strafed centers has further complicated the mess. As the Ruhr produces roughly three quarters of Germany's coal, four fifths of her coke and two thirds of the nation's raw iron and steel, the effect of transport disruption on German industry as a whole is great.

The Ruhr as a whole still has great reserves of strength. Many of the most important factory and traffic centers have not yet been hit. They are in the R.A.F.'s target files.

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