MID-DAY SPECTACLE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 19, 2 November 1940, Page 5

MID-DAY SPECTACLE.

PLANES WEAVING IN THE SKY.

RAIDERS OVER LONDON. (Received This Day, 11.10 a.m.) LONDON, November 1. The third air raid alert to-day gave Londoners a lunch, hour spectacle of numerous exhaust trails weaving about in the blue sky at a great height, indicating the interception of enemy planes by British fighters. A communique dealing generally with the raids on Britain to-day states: “There has been some enemy activity over Britain since dawn. In addition to some isolated aircraft several formations entered the Portsmouth area and others flew in the direction of London. Our fighters and anti-aircraft defences have been constantly in action and tho attacking formations in each case were quickly dispersed and driven off. In the course of these raids bombs were dropped at several points in the London area, the Eastern Counties, the Southeast of England and in Lincolnshire. “Reports at present received show that in general the resulting damage was slight and though some casualties are reported the number of persons killed or injured is very small. “Nline enemy aircraft were destroyed. Six of our fighters were lost, hut the pilots of two of them are safe.”—British Official Wireless.

LONGEST QUIET PERIOD.

SOME LONE RAIDERS ATTACK. ATTACK BY DIVE BOMBER. LONDON, November 1. Last night London had the longest quiet period since intensive air raids began in September. Londoners were astonished yesterday to hear the allclear given several hours before midnight.' The feeling expressed during the day that the stormy weather was likely to keep the enemy away was' thus justified. Some people had already taken up positions in shelters and refused to disturb themselves, but the London streets, so long deserted from dusk to dawn, looked almost as they did before the blitzkrieg began. Buses, which normally pull up beside the footpaths, felt their way through the murk. Taxis defied the darkness, dashing to their destinations. The general feeling was that it was too good to he true. The Air Ministry confirms that enemy air activity over Britain last night was on a reduced scale. Raiders were over London, East Anglia, a Midlands town and a few other places, but there was little ..damage and the casualties were few.

There is little news of raids this morning. There has been one alert, but it* did not last long. Four wero killed and a number injured when a bomb fell in a residential district.

Raiders over London early last night met a heavy ground fire which was considered the heaviest yet put up. There was hardly a. pause in the gunfire for the first hour and a half. The Germans arrived in waves, using fast fighter-bombers. Some fires were started, but were quickly brought under control. Bombs also fell in rural areas and on a- north-east Scottish town.

"A bomber, believed to. be.-Italian, power-dived from the clouds and released bombs on an East Anglian town in ic afternoon, -causing several casualties and damaging buildings. Two aeroplanes dropped several highexplosive bombs on a Midlands town. There were a few casualties.

A raider machine-gunned an east Scottish lighthouse. Single raiders attacked other districts in Britain, raking streets with machine-guns. One bomber unloaded from 100 feet over a southern town, killing four and demolishing several shops.