SLIGHT DAMAGE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 284, 26 August 1940, Page 7

SLIGHT DAMAGE

Bombardment Across Channel SHELLS LAND IN KENT British People Remain Cheerful (British Oiiicial Wireless and Press Assn.) LONDON, August 23. About a dozen German shells landed in Kent last night. Some buildings were damaged, and there were some casualties. One shell wrecked a church. 'fhe 8.8. C. observer in the Dover area stated that the bombardment showed very clearly that the main danger in any raid or shelling was from broken or flying glass, lie had been into the church which was damaged. One wall was gone and its glass windows were a mass of broken masonry and twisted ironwork.

■The peoples whose homes bad been damaged or destroyed were taking it all with amazing cheerfulness. There was no sign of panic. They were used to raids, but not to bombardment, yet they seemed determined Io get used to anything.

The convoy which was unsuccessfully shelled iu the Straits of Dover yesterday arrived in the Thames with over 50,000 tons of food and other essential commodities.

Authoritative London circles express the opinion that, the German guns used in bombarding a convoy and later in firing on the Dover area are of abom a 12-inch calibre. The Nazis constructed emplacements on the French coast between Calais and Boulogne immediately they were in occupation, and it is thought that yesterday’s display heralded the completion of these works. Informed quarters regard lhe usefulness of this artillery ns still to be proved, and point out that long-range bombardment depends upon observation for success. At such a distance it is thought unlikely that a bombardment could, or would, dislodge troops from emplacements, butyl is emphasized, both as regards this aspect and as regards convoys, that the problem is a new one and time will show w bother or not extremely long-range artillery has acquired a new usefulness. The shelling of Dover last night resulted in four people being sent to hospital. The latest assessment of the damage confirms that it was remaikably slight. Shrapnel badly damaged six small houses facing the churchyard of a church in which a shell exploded. Most of the houses had been previously evacuated. A German Government spokesman said : “The German long-range guns are beginning to ring down tiie curtain in the final scene of the English tragedy.”