BATTLE BY DAY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 302, 28 September 1940, Page 5

BATTLE BY DAY.

CHILDREN MACHINE-GUNNED.

LONDON, September 26

Til the afternoon the Germans changed their tactics and raided the Channel -coast from Hastings to Southampton. One formation of 20 bombers and 50 fighters attempted to attack Southampton, hut fighters wont for them and brought down six bombers, two of which. fell on land.

One crew of five was taken prisoner, but the other crew was blown to pieces as the machine with, its load of bombs exploded when it crashed. Two R.A.F. fighters crashed, but the pilots bailed out.

In a north-east town children on their w r ay to school were machinegunned by a German raider, but all got to safety in time. In the south-east a German machine flying very low dropped bombs until it was forced up by anti-aircraft and machine-gun fire. Among the famous buildings hit in the recent indiscriminate Nazi raids on London is the Inner Temple, which is one of the four Inns of Court. Besides the Middle and Inner Temple halls, libraries and church, the temple contains many buildings which housebarristers’ chambers and it forms a self-contained community. It was this ancient settlement which inspired the plan of the famous Karl Marx Hoff, in Vienna, an outstanding example of community settlement/ Perhaps this is the reason why the Nazis included the temple in their programme of London’s “military objectives.” The Air Ministry reveals that during the half-hour attack against Southampton one British and one Polish fighter squadron shot down all the 31 German planes destroyed to-day. Fifty Heinkel bombers, heavily protected by fighters, approached the Isle of Wight at a height of 16,000 feet. The Poles, flying Hurricanes, immediately attacked the bombers and chased some across the Channel to France. Meanwhile nine Spitfires took on a further 30 bombers escorted by fighters at a height of 14,000 feet and chased the attackers to sea after a series of thrilling encounters.

The raiders again kept up the bombing throughout London all night. Central London was again comparatively quiet for the first few hours in spite of occasional flaring up of gunfire and the explosion of bombs.

A district in North London received a bad pasting for a short period, highexplosive bombs followed by a number of flares destroying the maternity wing of a {hospital. Other bombs razed houses and shops nearby. Incendiary bombs in the same area were swiftly put out and little damage was done.

Many London areas experienced similar visitations. A north-west town had its worst bombing since the outbreak of war. Night raiders also visited the south-east coastal area. German guns on the French coast shelled the Dover area and a man and a woman were killed.