BOMBED BY R.A.F.

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 80, 1 October 1940, Page 8

BOMBED BY R.A.F.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

OTHER TARGETS HIT

NIGHT OF GREAT ACTIVITY

(British Official Wireless.)

(Received October 1, 2 p.m.)

RUGBY, September 30. Last night's attacks on rail and communication centres in Germany by the R.A.F. were spread over a wide area. Railways at Ehrang, Mannheim, Soest, and Koblenz were bombed. Fires were started in goods junctions at Cologne, Osnabruck, and Hamm, where sticks of heavy-calibre bombs fell along one side of the goods yard, causing two separate fires, which quickly merged into one big blaze. An oil plant at Hanover was attacked shortly before 11 o'clock. A large fire in the target area -was still burning 20 minutes after the last aircraft left the outskirts of the city. Explosions, which continued for some time, marked an attack on a factory near Hanover. At Kameai, near Dortmund, another factory was bombed and set on fire. Raiders operating in Holland attacked the great Fokker aircraft factory near Amsterdam. N>The factory—now commandeered by the German invaders —is situated in the dock .area. It was heavily bombed and fires and explosions were seen to break out among the factory buildings and the docks lying to the south.

Aerodromes at Gifhorn, Dessau, Eveire Aschersleben, and Schipol were also subjected to night attacks by heavy bombers. At Schipol, the main airport of Amsterdam, sticks of bombs burst across the illuminated flare path, and at Aschersleben low-lying clouds were lit up by the glow of a great fire started on the aerodrome. The Royal Air Force's night bombardment of potential invasion bases along the Belgian, Dutch, and French coasts included a third attack on the naval base at Lorient, on the coast of Brittany, where heavy damage was caused in large-scale raids last week. Last night bad visibility hampered the attack, but heavy-calibre bombs were seen to straddle the target.

At Calais hits were scored on many parts of the docks and the dock area in the face of intense opposition by the harbour gun batteries. Other bomber forces raided the docks at Ostend, xvhere bombs fell across the outer harbour and on the new tidal harbour and docks, and Boulogne, where hits were registered in several of the main shipping basins. Bombs; were also dropped on the docks at Flushing early on Sunday morning. In an attack on long-range gun positions at Cap Gris-nez salvos of high-explosive bombs were seen to explode close to the gun emplacements.