GERMANS LOSE 14 PLANES

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 December 1940, Page 7

GERMANS LOSE 14 PLANES

LITTLE BOMBING REPORTED ITALY AND GERMANY RAIDED [BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] RUGBY, December 5. British fighters destroyed 12 enemy aircraft, and anti-aircraft guns destroyed one—for the loss of one fighter, of which the pilot is safe—during raids on .Britain, to-day. The official communique, announcing the success, states:’ “This morning, a number of enemy fighters an/i fighter-bombers, which flew over East Kent, were intercepted by our fighters, and were scattered, During the afternoon, other enemy aircraft crossed the. coast of, Kent and came inland. They were?also attacked and put to flight. Bombs dropped by these raiders caused some damage to houses and other buildings, and injured a number of people. Air raids on England last night were slight and were over by midnight. An official statement says that bombs were dropped in the London area and in the Midlands, but the casualties were few and the damage light. A priest and a widow overnight .were standing beside the body of the •.widow’s brother, who was killed in a previous air-raid. They were talking '-of the funeral arrangements. A bomb hit the back of the house, and both were injured. A.R.P. squads, joined by pioneers, are still striving to locate the remainder of the women and children trapped under the bombed ruins of the convent. There is little hope that any of those buried are alive.

LATER. An Air Ministry communique states: Fourteen enemy aircraft were destroyed to-day. In addition to those shot down in combats in the southeast, an enemy bomber was shot down off the south-west coast. Two of our aircraft were lost, the pilot of one being safe. TURIN AGAIN ATTACKED. GERMAN OIL ABLAZE. (Recd. Dec. 6, 9 a.m.). LONDON, December 5. | It is officially stated:. The R.A.F. last night bombed targets at Turin, and also carried out a fairly-heavy attack on Dusseldorf.

j Details of the blows the Royal Air i Force has dealt to Germany’s oil supplies were given in an Air Ministry communique to-night. Synthetic oil plants in many places had been repeatedly bombed. At Stettin, the Baltic port, supplies of aviation petrol had been burning for three days. At Hamburg, one of the largest fires that city had seen had been caused when oil and kerosene stores were set alight. At Bordeaux, petrol tanks had j been blazing for three days. These flosses had caused the Germans many :difficulties, and shortages of fuel are now becoming apparent. FIRES AT ARSENAL. RUGBY, December 5. The British bomber crews who raided Turin objectives last night, had a better journey than those in the aircraft which bombed industrial and transport targets in the Dusseldorf district.

The first news of the bombing of Turin’s Royal Arsenal was a message from a bomber who had just dropped bombs, saying: “Raid successful Weather perfect.” This formidable assault on the great armament works at Turin was an impressive feature of the double attack on Italy, from bases in this country and in the Medterarnean. The Royal Arsenal was once again the chief objective, and much was done to reduce the output of guns, carriages, shell cases, and tanks. The raid began some time after 9 p.m., and continued for about two hours. A considerable number of large fires were caused amongst the arsenal buildings, also at the Fiat works, which were also attacked. One by one, as they returned to their various stations, the pilots and crews confirmed one another’s accounts of the success of the attacks. The Dusseldorf raiders had little success with the weather, and had to journey to their target through thick cloud and rain. The raiders might have had to seek other objectives, but a lucky cloud gap enabled the first arrivals to get bombs on yards in the Dusseldorf district and the Rohrenwary armament works, quays and dockyards along the Rhine, and the Dusseldorf coal and gas plants. During the raid, which lasted for nearly 12 hours, the goods yards at Neusi and Dortmund were also bombed from other aircraft, as well as docks and shipping at Antwerp, Ostend, and Calais. ITALIAN VERSION. (Received December 6, 9.5 a.m.) ROME, December 5. A communique states: One was killed and three were injured, during the R.A.F. raid on Turin. Several fires in the vicinity of a hospital were soon extinguished. Wool factories and a carpet factory were hit. GERMAN VERSION. (Recd. Dec. 6, 10.45 a.m.). LONDON, December 5. A German communique, for the first i*jime for some weeks, makes no claims .’’regarding attacks on shipping. It >boasts of fictitious fires in London, and admits that the R.A.F. bombed West Germany, claiming, as usual, that only dwellings were damaged.

PUBLICATION OF PICTURES (Recd. December 6, 12.45 p.m.) LONDON, December 5. “All we hear about our counterattacks against Germany are such time-worn phrases as heavy damage was caused and fires could be seen bbzing fifty miles away.” The “Daily Express” says this, in an appeal to the Air Ministry to publish pictures of the colossal bomb damage to Germany. The Admiralty has other methods. The publication of the Taranto pictures stirred the world and was admitted to be the finest piece of British propaganda since the sinking of the Graf Spee. FACTORIES AS FRONT LINE. RUGBY, December 5. Captain Balfour, Under-Secretary for Air, speaking at a luncheon to the

f . Eagle Squadron (volunteer United States pilots in the R.A.F.) said that I it'symbolises the absolute determination in common of both the United States of America and the British'Empire, to preserve the right to lead national. individual' lives, free from domination by ‘ the crushing heel of Nazidom-

'/The squadron personnel had been watching'successive phases of the bat? tie. for Britain in the air. Now, the German .Air Force had transferred its attention to industrial centres/ and was making a frontal attack on industry. “These enemy attacks bring in their train the wanton slaughter of innocent civilians, but we must face the fact that the front line of the war is the factory here. We must and do accept the challenge of the enemy, to damage, destroy, and kill, but, just as his indiscriminate bombing raids have failed, so will the effect of this present form of attack be countered. We accept the dark as well as the bright passages of war, and to-day we are more determined and more certain of victory than ever in the past.”

COUNTER-MEASURES OUTLINED. RUGBY, December 5. The lessons learned in the raids on Southampton, Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol, and- elsewhere t are being worked out, and will be sent to every region of the country. The Minister of Home Security gave this assurance during a speech at Southampton, in which he also paid a tribute to the splendid fight put up by the civil defence services,’ and the magnificent spirit of the civil population, under Jthe city’s recent ordeal. “Grievous as the sufferings' at Southampton and other heavily"bombed towns have been,” said Mr. Morrison, “we are trying to extract from them whatever advantage we can. It may be some ‘consolation to the people in the bombed cities, to know that every time the ordeal is inflicted, we are taking care to ensure that the enemy task on the next occasion will be a little more difficult, and our ‘ work in countering the attack a little more effective.” He expressed grateful appreciation of the effective help rendered by the Army, in coping with some recent problems arising from bombing. WRIT AGAINST BISHOP LONDON, December 4. The British Cement Federation has issued a writ against Dr. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham. He made a. speech on Saturday last in which he attacked the air-raid shelters. He described them as “a misery and a menace.” He also asserted: “If the head of Britain’s new cement group lived in Germany, he would now be in a concentration camp.” He also urged State control of the cement industry. The writ is the result of these statements. DOCTORS AT SHELTERS LONDON, December 4. The “Daily Telegraph” reveals that over twenty-doctors are nightly calling at those London shelters in which there are five hundred people sleeping. Some of the largest shelters, in- ' eluding those in the tubes, have a doctor in attendance all night. The Ministry of Health has recommended the local authorities to appoint such doctors at a salary of £5OO a year.

THANKS TO NEW ZEALAND WELLINGTON, December 5. The Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) has received the following message from the British Minister for Aircraft Production, Lord Beaverbrook: “Were any fresh evidence necessary of the utter devotion of the people of your Dominion to the Empire’s cause, it would be overwhelmingly provided by the contribution sent to- me by your High Commissioner in London for the purchase of fighter aircraft. Our hearts are uplifted, our spirits fortified by this magnificent gesture of support. You enable us to strike even harder blows at the evil forces of Nazi and Fascist aggression, bringing nearer the day when the hosts of Hitler and his Italian jackal will for ever bite the dust. In sending to the Dominion of New Zealand this expression of my heartfelt gratitude and thanks I know I speak for the whole British nation, and indeed, for all in every land who love freedom.”— Beaverbrook.