DAYLIGHT FLIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 38, 13 August 1941, Page 8

DAYLIGHT FLIGHT

TARGETS IN COLOGNE

SEVERE DAMAGE

(Rec. noon.) RUGBY, August 12. . The Royal Air Force carried out extensive operations in northern France and Germany today. They! included the bombing of a power; station near Bethune and of railway I communications near St. Omer by Hampden bombers escorted by fighters, and an attack on objectives in Cologne by several squadrons of Blenheims. Crowds on the sea coast watched almost continuous flights of aeroplanes passing high overhead on the journey to France. An Air Ministry communique states that six squadrons of Blenheims of the Bomber Command penetrated into the Rhineland this morning to attack the great Cologne power stations at Quadrath and Knapsack. Fighters accompanied the bombers as far as Antwerp. The bombers then went on alone. MANY DIRECT HITS. The bombers often flew at less than I 100 feet on their 150 miles penetration I into the German defence system. Both the power stations were attacked at 11.30 a.m. at "point-blank" range. A great number of bombs scored direct hits, and the targets were left in flames. Fighters met the returning bombers at Antwerp, covering their withdrawal across the North Sea, while another j strong force of fighters patrolled the | Dutch coast in support. j About the same time, Hampden 1 bombers with a fighter escort attacked the railways near St. Omer and the power station at Gosnay, in the Pas de Calais. Three enemy fighters were destroyed by the escorts. Flying Fortress aircraft attacked an ! aerodrome at De Kooy and objectives in Cologne and Emden. Our losses on all these operations were twelve Blenheims and eight fighters.—B.O.W.