VITAL TARGETS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 290, 14 September 1940, Page 6

VITAL TARGETS

R.A.F. RAIDS ON GERMANY.

KEY TRANSPORT CENTRES HIT. BIG FIRES AT BRUSSELS. (United Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, September 13. In spite of adverse weather, described succinctly by the pilots, themselves as “generally foul,” Royal Air Force bombers last'night continued to harry the German plans for invasion. They struck in particular at a network of vital railway junctions and goods yards in Western Germany.

A communique issued this evening shows that aircraft of both the Coastal and the Bomber Commands were engaged in night operations, from which all returned safely.

The Air Ministry points out that these junctions and goods yards, which include some of the largest and most elaborate in Europe, must play an important part in any attempted'invasion of Britain. Troops, reserves, equipment, and supplies moving westwards to Channel ports from Germany must pass through one or other of these key transport centres. It was before 10 o’clock that, in thick cloud and drizzling rain, the first raider dropped heavy bombs and incendiaries on the goods yard at Hamm. At the yards at Ehrang, near the Luxembourg frontier, north of Trier, heavy bombs burst along a line of trucks, causing several explosions and fires, which burned with a vivid glare.

At Osnabruck, too, bombers flew through dense cloud. One scraped a balloon cable with the wing tip. Attacking from various heights the raiders started 10 large fires in the yards. Some of the aircraft which attacked yards at Essen were badly iced up. Heavy bombs were dropped on railway sidings. The Schwerte marshalling yards were also attacked in the face of an intense barrage from light anti-aircraft batteries. Another raider bombed sidings at Emmerich, on the Rhine, near the Dutch border.

The IGermans have recently been routing much of their military traffic through the Brussels yards. These have been attacked several times by the Royal Air Force in the last week. They were bombed again last night and after bursts were seen on the target a U-shaped fire, three-quarters of a mile long, was -seen on the north of the yard. There was a series of green' (coloured explosions, then another fire 200 yards long was seen in the middle of the siding. Meanwhile another section of the raiders visited Em den and bombed the docks and petroleum sheds on tire west side of Altabinnen Hafen. The attack went on for an hour.

Squadrons operating over Holland bombed docks at Flushing and Detfzi.il, at the mouth of the Bms opposite Hoiden, and the Nojrderney seaplane base -and batee at Do Kooy, near Den Helder.

The first raider to reach Flushing found a semi-circle of anti-aircraft ships round the harbour entrance. The ships immediately opened an intense barrage, and light and heavy shore 'batteries joined in. Tracer bullets fla.r----«d past the bombers. High-angle machine-guns added their quota. Through this barrage one of the raiders’flew at 600 feiet. '' 9 A German oil tanker was bombed by Blenheims of the. Coastal Command near Le Havre. A supply ship was also hit.—‘-British Official Wireless.