THROUGH SNOW STORM

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 106, 31 October 1941, Page 5

THROUGH SNOW STORM

PLANES GO TO STRIKE

MOST DEVASTATING ATTACK

(Rec. 1.30 a.m.). RUGBY, Oct. 30. The harbour and anchorage of Aalesund, one of the bases from, which Hitler supplies his northern Russian front, were wreathed in flames last evening and early this morning. It was the most devastating shipping attack ever carried out by a single squadron of the Royal Air Force, says an Air Ministry bulletin. Lockheed Hudson bombers of the Coastal Command flew through snowstorms across the North Sea to unload their bombs on a large, concentration of shipping, and vessel after vessel was hit and burst into flames. RECORD OF RUIN. . So far as it is possible to make an accurate estimate, the record of the squadron's raid is: Four supply ships sunk or left sinking, one ship left in flames, the superstructure and upper deck of a sixth ship blown into the air, an escort vessel, of the corvette type severely damaged by bombs, a fish-oil factory ablaze, German barracks effectively machine-gunned, a wireless station or power plant bombed, construction and.repair works set on fire, and a. German/.transport lorry, driven off the road. As the crews returned to their base, one after another reported hits on ships from below mast height. After flying through snow over the sea, the Hudsons found conditions over Aalesund ideal. There was a bright moon shining, and it clearly outlined the vessels lying at anchor.—B.O.W.