R.A.F. ATTACKS CONTINUE

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 September 1940, Page 7

R.A.F. ATTACKS CONTINUE

ON “INVASION” FRONT LINE HUGE FIRES AT ANTWERP 7 RUGBY, September 15. The Royal Air Force on Saturday night gave the German invasion experts something to think about, bombing shipping and barge concentrations and military objectives in the Channel ports, and also many places in Germany itself. Distribution centres and lines of communication of the German forces were attacked. One of the main targets was Antwerp, which a wouldbe invader of England once described as “a dagger pointed at the heart of England.” The comment of a British bomber pilot is more to the point. He described it as the perfect target. Flying through appalling weather—the aircraft were struck by. lightning, radio aerials were burnt off in a violent electric storm, and many machines iced up—the raiders struck heavily at the invasion front-line in the Channel ports of Holland, France, and Belgium, and attacked bases, railway junctions, and transport centres in Germany from where come reserves and supplies. One of the night’s most devastating onslaughts was made on Antwerp, and havoc was caused in the vast network of docks, warehouses, and petrol sheds on the banks of the Scheldt and shipping lying in the stream as large forces of bombers dropped nearly 40 tons of high-explosive bombs and more than 1000 incendiaries in an attack lasting from 11 p.m. until 1.30 a.m, yesterday.

One pilot said that when he arrived over Antwerp fires were still burning, and at 6000 feet he could see the port perfectly. In spite of fierce anti-air-craft fire, he decided to come down for a low-level attack, during which the navigator reported that one of the wings was on fire.- The pilot carried through his attack, however, dropping 10 heavy bombs, six of which fell across the docks where barges were lying, while the others straddled a building, either a warehouse or a power station, and caused a big explosion. Pieces’of his target were hurled into the air. By this time the fire on the wing had gone out. After turning for home fires could still be seen burning 30 miles away. Large numbers of barges were found in Ostend harbour, where the defences have been considerably strengthened during the last week. Many barges were in the outer harbour, the main west dock, and in basin No. 1, and these were all bombed.

DESTRUCTION AT CALAIS.

Port shipping, long-range guns, anti-aircraft batteries, and searchlight concentrations at and round Calais were all bombed heavily from 8.30 until nearly 11 p.m. While i some of the raiders attacked the har- ■ bour and shipping concentrations inside the harbour, others sought out big guns nearby and started fires in these target areas. A huge fire was begun after one aircraft had attacked barges in Calais harbour, and another pilot, flying through cloud into moonlight, clearly saw and bombed the various basins. Bombs burst on wharf buildings, and barges in No. 6 dock suffered particularly severe damage. One pilot reported that some minutes -after he had dropped high-ex-plosive bombs, among the barges there was a big explosion from the middle dock and flames shot upwards. Another said: “I could actually see my bombs burst right on a concentration of barges on the east side of No. 6 dock. The last two scored a direct

hit on a 5000-ton merchant ship at the north end of the dock, and clouds of dense smoke began to come out of her. No. 6 dock was filled with barges, and I estimated there were about 300 of them.” One aircraft was held in the blinding glare of 10 searchlights. It was hit in several places, and there was intense tracer fire. All the same, the pilot made his attack and hit the north end of the Carnot basin.

ALARMS IN BERLIN. LONDON, September 16. A Berlin message says that there was an air-raid alarm from 11.28 to 11.57 o’clock last night. It was claimed that the raiders were driven back. A second alarm, after midnight, lasted half an hour. “The Times” publishes a report from Berlin stating that foreign correspondents have been informed that tours of inspection of bombed areas have ceased. Any correspondent attempting without authority to’ visit these areas or sending out reports differing from the official accounts will be instantly expelled from Germany. ' No correspondent can send out accounts of air raids before the official story is dispatched. The public are also prohibited from visiting bombed areas. ENEMY CONVOYS STRUCK. SHIPS BOMBED IN HARBOURS. RUGBY, September 16. A German supply ship, which was sunk while . at anchor .at Ijmuiden last night, by aircraft of the Coastal Command, is stated officially to have been •of 5000 tons. Other aircraft of the Coastal Command attacked German convoys, and again struck heavily at shipping concentrations on the Channel coast. The first convoy was attacked off the Dutch coast by a Hudson aircraft. The pilot dived on the nearest large ship, and sank it with his bombs. Then he machine-gunned an armed trawler, and followed this by thoroughly machine-gunning an Eboat, which was escorting the convoy. After that, the pilot resumed his patrol. A second German convoy was stationary off the Dutch coast when it was attacked by another patrolling Hudson at dawn to-day. The pilot dived on one of the ships in the semidarkness, and let go three bombs. One at least'struck home, for as the Hudson pulled out of its dive, it was peppered with splinters from the ship, which is' believed to have been sunk.

Last night’s attacks on concentraof German vessels at Channel ports were made by waves of Blenheims. Two ships were damaged when Blenheims attacked a convoy off Sangatte, near Calais. The main attack, however, was. reserved fsr Ls

Havre, where the pilots of the first wave of Blenheims saw four large ships moored alongside a deep-water quay. Repeated salvoes of bombs struck squarely on the quay, and there were fires burning when the Blenheims flew away. The pilots in the second wave made their attack in bright moonlight. Amid intense, anti-aircraft fire, the Blenheims dived over the harbour, and bombed it systematically. Bombs burst. among ships, and . direct hits were seen on a fishtail pier, 'the Jeannes Couvert Quay, the Quai de New York, and a deep-water quay. Damaged ships, shattered masonry and store houses were the results of the bombings. * OFFICIAL SUMMARY. RUGBY, September 16. Last night, the R.A.F. again bombed military objectives in Berlin, states an Air Ministry communique, which adds: Further heavy attacks were made on concentrations of war supplies, barges and shipping at the dockyards and ports of Hamburg, Wilhelmshaven, Antwerp, Flushing, Ostend, Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne. Other forces of R.A.F. bombers attacked the distribution centres at Hamm, Osnabruck, Soest, and Krefeld, and goods yards at Hamburg. The railway junction at Rheine was also damaged. Direct hits were made on an enemy warship off Terschelling. An oil tanker and a supply ship in the Elbe Estuary were severely damaged. Aircraft of the Coastal Command sank an enemy supply ship off Ijmuiden. Convoys off the Dutch coast were also attacked. Two supply ships were sunk, and others were severely damaged. Attacks were also made on shipping and docks at Le Havre, where ships along the quays themselves were repeatedly hit. • j

From all these extensive and successful operations, all our aircraft returned safely.

ANOTHER EFFECTIVE VISIT. RUGBY, September 16. The invasion bases on the Dutch, Belgian, and French coasts were again the chief objectives of Sunday night’s raids by bomber squadrons of the R.A.F. The night’s heaviest attack was directed against the docks at Antwerp, where great fleets of barges and many ships have been accumulated during recent weeks. In the raid, which began half an hour before midnight, and was kept up for close on three hours, many tons of high explosives and hundreds of incendiary bombs were unloaded on the docks and shipping, by relays of heavy bombers. Bright moonlight in the early stages of the attack clearly revealed many barges moored in the dock basin. The barges, which were struck and set ablaze, exploded in flashes of flames, which lit up the whole dock. The goods yard caught fire, buildings were wrecked, and the trail of fire following a series of explosions spread rapidly along the quay side, engulfing warehouses and other buildings in its course.

FURTHER PARTICULARS. HAVOC CAUSED BY FIRE. RUGBY, September 16. At Antwerp by 1.30 a.m., one of the main wharves was a mass of flames. Other growing fires could be seen in all parts of the docks. At Ostend, the shipping and docks were subjected to a series of intermittent raids by heavy and medium bombers, over a period of four hours. In the first attack, launched shortly after midnight, a line of bombs burst across the docks and outer harbour. The second stick, falling at one end of a basin, struck what appeared to be a large transport vessel, which immediately caught fire. The following attackers straddled the basin and shipping at the wharf with a line of high-explosive bombs and started a number of fires, which later merging into one great blaze, lit up the cluods 5000 feet above the town. Other bombs caused heavy explosions which were seen by one aircraft, while it was still 15 miles from the target. The attacks at Boulogne were delivered by a force of medium bombers. Visibility in the moonlight was good, and making full use of the available cloud the bomber pilots attacked targets by diving through the gap and climbing quickly back into the cloud cover, after dropping bombs. Repeated hits were scored alongside two of the main basins, on the shipping, on the jetty formerly used by the cross-Channel steamers, and on the southern half of the mole. At Dunkirk, extensive damage was caused by medium bombers which scored direct hits on the docks and harbour equipment. One tremendous flash was seen 20 miles away, caused by a violent explosion which broke out in No. 4 dock. Here, the fire was still raging more than two hours later. In the raid on Calais and Flushing, bombers’ crews reported frequent hits on the docks and quayside, and many outbreaks of fire. The ships along the quay at Calais are believed to have been set on fire, and a white fire, which broke out on the edge of the west basin, was still burning strongly 30 minutes later. Berlin was again.visited early on Monday morning by a harassing force which bombed the military objectives to the north-west of the city, the Tempelhof airport, and also attacked the power station, which was damaged on the previous raid. The raiders, whose visit gave Berliners their first two alarms in one night, met anti-aircraft fire, but none of the aircraft was hit. In the course of attacks on German rail centres, othei' heavy bomber forces raided Osnabruck, where six heavy calibre bombs were seen to burst across a goods yard, and at Soest, where a heavy explosion occurred in the railway yards. Some time after, bombs were seen to strike a target. At Krefeld, fires were started. A goods train, standing in the yard, was hit. Six buildings collapsed when six bombs fell across them at Hamm, which has been described as the nerve centre of the German rail transport. Fire, started in the sidings,' could be seen 20 miles away.

During an attack on the longrange gun emplacements at Cap Gris Nez, near Calais, searchlights adjacent to the guns were (bombed and extinguished. The surrounding woods were set on fire, and the emplacements left encircled by fire, which was visible for many miles out to sea. Successful attacks on enemy shipping were a feature of the night’s operations. An enemy cruiser, sighted off Terschelling Island just before midnight, was hit by a high explosive bomb from a heavy bomber, which at once came under intense fire from the warship. The bomber had thelead-

ing edge of its starboard wing and part of its tail shot away, a landing wheel punctured, and many bullet holes in the wings, but despite the damage, was brought safely to the base. A supply ship of about seven thousand tons was attacked by another heavy bomber off the German coast, and left in a sinking condition, after several direct hits were scored on it. A six thousand ton oil tanker, seen steaming westward without lights, was also intercepted and attacked with bombs and machine-gun fire from a height of only five hundred feet. Two direct hits were scored, one on the after part of the vessel, and the other, amidships. WAR CABINET’S TRIBUTE. RUGBY, September 16. Sir A. Sinclair passed the following message to the Coastal Command: “I have been asked by the War Cabinet to convey to all squadrons of the Coastal Command, their admiration of the skill and courage with which they have carried out the arduous but often unspectacular tasks allotted to them, and of the enterprise and success with which in recent days they have struck at the harbour, shipping and coastal defences of the enemy.” BRITISH LOSSES LOW RUGBY,. September 16. It can be authoritatively -stated that t'he losses sustained by R.A.F. bombers in their intensive night raids upon vital military objectives in Germany and German-occupied territories have been at much lower rates than those responsible for the long- . term planning of the British air operations thought it prudent to allow for. The rate for -the whole first year of the war is considerably below what had been anticipated, but even in the past few months, while blow after blow has been struck at the German oil resources and vital communications, and latterly at the invasion bases across the Channel, the rate of loss has still been much below thar for which provision was originally made. U.S.A. PRESS COMMENT LONDON, September 16. United States newspapers are well aware of the British raids on Germany. The “New York Times” says: “One should not overlook another series or battles in which the British are trying to break up a possible invasion before it begins.” After referring to the nightly attacks on Germany’s coastal bases from Norway to Boulogne, the “New . York Times” adds: “One knows that British aeroplanes are on the offensive night after night, that the glares of fires can be seen in many places throughout the .whole of Germanoccupied territory, that light naval units are in action in the .Channel bombarding German shipping concentrations, and that the Grand Fleet stands regdy to deal with any possible invader.” ~ .>■ . ...• • . ...