19/7 9.= pm. Maurice Shillington
Rome got his first air raid this morning
when American bombers made a precision
attack after dropping many leaflets.
At 11 o'clock corespondents in North
Africa were gathered and 13 minutes afterwards
the first bomber reported by air to be over
the targets. Military objects were bombed
chiefly marshalling yards. The force of bombers
consisted of light and heavy Americans
from Mediterranean Command.
Special instructions were issued to the
crews of our bombers to bomb precisely
and not damage religious and cultural
buildings. The raid was a heavy one and
lasted 2 1/2 hours. Fortresses, Merodas, Mitchells
and Liberators took part. The raid was carried
out in daylight for two main reasons.
First in order that the targets could be seen
clearly in daylight and secondly so that the
Italian people could see military objects
were our targets.
In Sicily our offensive continues favourably
and in some places even rapidly. On the East
coast we are within 3 miles from Catania
where the only serious resistance by a
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