BIG BLAZE IN HEART OF GERMANY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 165, 13 July 1940, Page 10

BIG BLAZE IN HEART OF GERMANY.

BRITISH RAWS.

Hundreds Of Bombs On

Buildings.

DESTRUCTION OV DROMES

rsritisli Official Wireless. (Received 2.30 p.m.) RUGBY, July 12. cry severe weather conditions were encountered by British aircraft when attacking military objectives inside Germany last night, but despite heavy storms, with rain, hail and snow, and difficult icing conditions, widely dispersed targets were damaged. Munition works at Ludwigshaven and near Cologne were located and bombed by the aid of light from parachute flares. Blast furnaces at Seigburg, 14 from Cologne, were attacked with heavy calibre bombs. At Mutterstadt, west of Ludwigshaven, a series of explosions followed by an outbreak of fire followed a low level attack on a large factory. In a raid on the docks at Bremen, carried out shortly after midnight, buildings were hit and a large fire was started. The aircraft responsible for the attack had a part of one airscrew shot off by anti-aircraft fire, but was able to complete the task and return safely.

Another night raider penetrated 300 miles into enemy territory and successfully attacked a large factory building on the fringe of Strasbourg, in southern Germany. Salvoes of bombs straddled the target and after two large warehouses had been hit the raider's crewwatched a continuous series of explosions occurring on the ground below. Incendiary bombs started several fires, which soon were burning fiercely. One great blaze was still plainly visible when the aircraft was 00 miles on the homeward course. Enemy aerodromes in Holland used as bases for raids on Britain were atta-cked and extensively damaged by heavy bombers of the R.A.F. Rotterdam's principal airport at Waalhaven was repeatedly bombed in a series of attacks lasting nearly two hours. Hits were made on many parts of the aerodrome with high explosive bombs and several fires were started. At the Schipol aerodrome, on the outskirts of Amsterdam, bombs struck the runways and exploded among the airport buildhigs. More than 100 high explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped on the air base at Texel. At Oostvoorne, on the Dutch mainland, a searchlight battery was extinguished when a salvo of heavy bombs burst close by. Bombs were also dropped on the aerodrome at Haamstaade, on the island ol Schouwen.