HULL THE TARGET

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 169, 19 July 1941, Page 7

HULL THE TARGET

HEAVY NAZI RAID

Many Deaths; Three Shelters

Demolished

United Press Association.—Copyright.

Rec. 12.30 p.m

LONDON, July 18.

Hull last night received one of the heaviest attacks from the Luftwaffe for a long time. A large number of heavy bombs damaged houses, commercial buildings. industrial premises and shops, and incendiaries started a ring of fires. Anti-aircraft guns put up a powerful barrage, but were unable to prevent the raiders arriving in relays. Many casualties occurred in shelters, three of which were demolished in one street. Some people were rescued alive, but most were fatally injured. A boy, aged 16, rescued his injured mother from the wreckage of their home, but was later killed by a new fall of debris. A 17-year-old girl was rescued from another building, in which five relatives were killed. A rescue squad was unable to liberate two men owing to the position of a third man who was dead. They were pinned down under a heavy beam, and a doctor amputated the dead man's leg, after which the others were freed. Five men staying in a hostel were trapped under debris when a bomb demolished part of the premises. Two were rescued injured. A direct hit killed a firewatcher on a tower at industrial premises. A heavy bomb split a cinema in two. The German communique says the Luftwaffe bombed warehouses, oil storage depots, and docks at Hull and aerodromes in the Midlands. A communique, quoted by British Official Wireless, states that enemy aircraft were flown near our coast to-day, but none has flown inland. There were no reports of bombs being dropped up to 8 p.m. An enemy bomber was intercepted by British fighters off the south coast this afternoon and shot down.