DOCK AREA RAIDED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 66, 15 September 1941, Page 7

DOCK AREA RAIDED

NAZI WARSHIPS THERE

FIGHTERS IN ACTION

(Rec. 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 14. An Air Ministry communique says that Brest was heavily attacked last night by a large force of Bomber Command aircraft. A great weight of bombs was dropped in the dock area, and bursts were seen to straddle the dry docks in which the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were lying. Other aircraft bombed the docks at Le Havre. Fighter Command aircraft, in an offensive over northern France during the night, attacked several enemy aerodromes. Enemy aircraft coming into land were destroyed. No R.A.F. planes are missing. The Home Security communique says that a very small number of enemy aircraft flew over the east coast of Britain last night. Bombs were dropped at five points, but only slight damage was done. FIERCE OPPOSITION. The attack on Brest was made in the face of fierce opposition from ground defences, says the Air Ministry news service. Enemy fighters were also out to protect the harbour in which the Gneisenau, the Scharnhorst, and the Bin gun cruiser Prinz Eugen are still lying after months of inactivity. On the way back from Brest, one R.A.F. bomber met an epemy fighter, probably a Heinkel. Both the rear gunner and the captain saw it falling towards the sea in flames. The fighter came up from behind, out of a blur of searchlights, and fired a quick burst of tracer bullets. Nobody in the bomber was hurt and the only damage caused was to the trailing aerial, -which was shot away. NIGHT FIGHTER'S BAG. The crew of an American-built Havoc night-fighter, flying over northern France last night, found themselves over a German-occupied air base just at the time enemy raiders were returning to land, says the Air Ministry news service. In the space of a few minutes, three enemy aircraft were attacked in the air just above the landing ground. One went down on fire, and another was damaged. The first attack was made from 75 yards on an aircraft circling the aerodrome before landing. Then another aircraft was seen circling, and the gunner gave it a long burst from only 40 yards and stopped firing only when dazzled by the effects of his own bullets exploding at such close range. Immediately afterwards, a third enemy aircraft was seen and the Havoc again opened fire. Black smoke poured first from the port, then from the starboard engine, and it went down to the, ground in a vertical dive from 600 feet.—B.O.W.