NAZI AIM TO TERRORIZE CIVILIANS

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 195, 14 May 1940, Page 7

NAZI AIM TO TERRORIZE CIVILIANS

Press Association and British Official Wireless

LONDON, May 12. Violent air activity during the weekend over Belgium, France, and Holland provided the occasion for thrilling Allied actions and heroic exploits. A young Australian pilot summed up the work of the R.A.F. fighters in the following words: “We are mowing them down.” One pilot alone accounted for four German machines. Another pilot said: “We dived in among 50 planes and shot them up as rapidly as possible.” Blenheim bombers caused great havoc among troop concentrations behind the German lines in Belgium. Immediately after the British released their bombs, over 30 Messerschmitts swooped down from the clouds, but the Blenheims, despite heavy odds, pressed home the attack. The Germans are using the air weapon to terrorize the civilian populations, the worst example of frightfulness being the reported bombing of two trains full of women and children en route to Brussels from Liege. German aircraft also flew over Belgian towns, machinegunning the streets. Elsewhere, three private cars containing refugees were riddled with bullets. Nine bombs fell on workingclass homes in a Belgian town. Many bombs fell far from military objectives. It was estimated yesterday that over 100 had been killed in the Brussels area, including many women and children. Bombs rendered the whole of one quarter of one town uninhabitable. Bombers reduced blocks of houses in another busy centre to dust-, blown ruins. Civilian casualties already total several hundreds. The German news agency denies machine-gunning refugee trains.

The British Air Ministry announced at noon: —"During last night R.A.F. aircraft carried out further bombiug attacks against enemy troop concentrations and military traffic on roads and railways at a number of points in Germany near the frontier of Holland. The Air Ministry states that the R.A.F. has shot down 45 German planes since yesterday morning and has destroyed or damaged a further 45. Thirty-live R.A.F. plaues are missing. A message from Brussels says that more than 40 German planes were brought down on Belgian territory on Saturday.

Among the British airmen engaged in Holland and Belgium was a lighter squadron, composed of former auxiliary pilots. One day’s bag by this squadron consisted of seven German bombers before breakfast and three lighters after lunch. One young gunner was responsible for shooting down four German plaues. The ground defences, too, have done their work well. German attacks ou Allied aerodromes have caused few casualties and little serious damage, and have proved very expensive to the raiders. On the other hand, extensive reconnaissance has shown that Allied attacks on German aerodromes in Holland have been highly successful. Bombs on Strategic Roads. The captain of one R.A.F. plane which participated iu Saturday night's bombing of strategic roads behind the German line, said: —■ “Our target was a crossroad, which was being used by long columns of German reinforcements. As we flew over Holland on the way to the German frontier we had a magnificent bird's-eye view of the grand fight the Dutch were putting up. When we got to the crossroads they could easily be seen, partly 'because an aerodrome in the neighbourhood was burning like blazes. Other bomber aircraft obviously had beeu there before us. Our actual target was covered by a sheet of broken cloud, but through the opening we could see a long line of transports on the move. We dropped, bombs which burst right on the roads. Immediately all lights on the vehicles went out in a kind of run from *one end to the other.”

Another pilot found that a railway line in the target area was iu flames "These flames,” he said, “acted as a beacon and helped us to drop our bombs accurately.”