RAIDS AGAIN LIGHT

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1940, Page 7

RAIDS AGAIN LIGHT

FIRES CAUSE DAMAGE ; ' '• • KING VISITS SOUTHAMPTON , ■ .. •• '■ ' [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] LONDON, December 6. The Air Ministry in;a communique states: Enemy air attacks began at nightfall on Thursday. They ceased shortly after midnight. They, were never ■on a • large scale. The main attack was on the south coast, where high explosive bombs and incendiary bombs were dropped. All of the fires caused were extinguished, but there was damage done to a church, and houses and other, buildings.'- A number were killed and injured. • ' The attack last night on London was light.. Bombs were dropped at only a- few points. Some damage was done to houses and shops. ■ There were a few casualties, some being fatal. ' ’ ,• Bombs were also dropped .in the south-east,of England, arid in East Anglia. Rescue squads fought desperately to save the occupants of. four houses which were set on fire after a bomb brought them down during Thursday night’s raid on London. A.F.’s made a path by leaping the flames, which, it is believed, were fed from a burst gas main. Ten people were extricated. Three are known to be dead.Others .are .yet untraced. Two daylight alerts did not prevent the King ■ from continuing a visit of inspection to Southampton and Portsmouth, where he was cheered by thousands of workmen at the docks. The King spoke to men who had' brought American destrovers to Britain. The chief target of the German raiders yesterday was a mental home in south-east England, where bombs brought down tall chimney stacks, injuring seven persons. Other raiders, driven off from England, dropped their bombs without damage near trawlers in the Straits of Dover. A small formation of Messerschmitts several - times later attempted to cross the -coast,- where they were driven off. - . , o The Air Ministry reports that- a squadron of Spitfires yesterday without loss shot down eight Messerschmitt 109’s off the Kent coast. . German heavy guns at Cape Nez began a violent artillery duel across the Straits of Dover, which continued for an hour. British members .of Parliament have been analysing Germany s boasts that 5,000,000 bombs have been dropped over Britain m days. It -is found that if each bomber carried 10 bombs the Germans would have had to send 16,000 machines a day over Britain. RAID ON PORTSMOUTH?

i (Recd. Dec. 7, 11.55 a.m.). LONDON, December 6. A south coast town, claimed by the Germans to be Portsmouth, was heavily bombed, last night. Considerable *damage was done, but the casualties -are not yet known. . When a bomb hit a cinema, about au .people were trapped, but there was no ,P Numbers are still buried .under debris in a working-class district. A 13-years-old girl, who was still partially buried after 12 hours, was given morphia and warm drinks. Nurses acted as firemen when m,cendiary bombs set fire to a hospital. They beat out the flames with brooms, ■ until firemen arrived.’ Then, when the • auxiliary pump went out of action, they formed a bucket chain. All the -■nurses lost their personal belongings and money. ‘ Bombs which fell in the Kentish village of Kilndown smashed the stained-glass windows of the church, valued at £30,000, which were purchased in Munich, in the last century. ' „ . Recently, a bomb fell on the lawn at Holyrood House, disinterring the remains of Scottish Kings and Queens and breaking the Palace windows. _ High-explosives and incendiaries hit the Greenwich Observatory, damaging the Wren parts, erected in 1675. Other bombs damaged the ring at the famous Blackfriars boxing stadium.

The Duke of Gloucester was inspecting military units recently, when two German bombers flew over as he was leaving his car. Several bombs were dropped, but nobody was hurt. GERMAN GENERAL KILLED. LONDON, December 6. A Berlin message states that Major-General Wolff ■ von Strutterheim, one of. the youngest generals of the German air force, died from machine-gun wounds during a raid on England.

WINDSOR CASTLE BOMBED. LONDON, December 6. Three bombs fell in the grounds of Windsor Castle in a recent raid, one on the golf course, one on the tennis court, and the othei’ on the bowling green. The Royal Lodge received some damage, but there were no casualties. Bombs fell in the town of Windsor, but here also there were no casualties.

A CLOSE ENCOUNTER. RUGBY, December 6. . Attacking' at 350 m.p.h. to within point blank range of a Messerschmitt 109, a Hurricane pilot broke away with the windscreen so covered with oil from the shattered Messerschmitt, he could only see out of. a single side. He then manoeuvred the Hurricane, states the Air Ministry news service, so that he could follow the descent of the Messerschmitt through his clear panel.The Hurricane pilot was patrolling with his squadron over the Thames Estuary, at 27,000 feet, when they met 20 of the enemy. He managed to get two short bursts at a Messerschmitt 109, before it disappeared in a cloud, heading for the Kent coast. The Hurricane pilot followed, going “as fast as possible,” until many feet below, he again spotted the Messerschmitt flying just above another bank of cloud. “I overtook him under cover of the cloud,” he reported laconically. “I opened fire at 200 yards range with a. five seconds burst, closing to 20 yards. A thick cloud of oil came out of the enemy aircraft and covered my windscreen.. I'broke, away, and flew on one side so I could see. “He wriggled his wings and jettisoned his hood, and . began gliding

down slowly, eventually landing-in a field- He.tore'.off his starboard'vying when landing.” . ‘ / ■ ? SPORTS DURING RAIDS. RUGBY, December 5. n . The question of continuing football matches, greyhound meetings, and other-open-air'sports meetings has been Considered in the light of. conditions now . obtaining. The Government has decided that where a lookout, man is employed, play or racing rriay as a general rule be continued after the alert and until the alarm has been given by the spotter. ' ' R.A.F. ACTIVITIES. RUGBY, December 6. Aircraft of the Coastal Command, it is officially, stated, carried out a raid on the electro-chemical, factory at Eindhoven, yesterday. The Rotterdam airport and. the , Haamstede aerodrome were also attacked.; Other Coastal Command aircraft bombed the submarine .base, at Lorient. Owing to bad weather, last night, bomber operations were cancelled. Two of our- aircraft are missing from routine patrols. TARANTO. PHOTOGRAPHS. RUGBY, December-6. -It is confirmed in Loridon that photographs showing the damage done to the Italian Fleet, by the Fleet-Air. Arm .during .the rbcent raid on Taranto, were included in the pamphlets dropped by the, R.A.F. over Turin, on Wednesday night. PLANES FROM U.S.A. WASHINGTON, December 5. .The United States has formally released twenty Boering planes which will be available for -Britain when the Norden bomb-sight has replaced the Prosperry one on them. One of the 26 Consolidated planes has already been delivered. The remainder will be delivered by March.

U.S.A. PLANES PRAISED. LONDON, December 6. Pilots in the Royal Air Force are enthusiastic about the performance of the United States aircraft which they are now using. These have fought their way successfully through many operations, particularly in the Middle East. . It was American aircraft whicn were responsible for taking the Taranto photographs which have been featured in newspapers throughout the world. The responsibility of the American aeroplanes is no surprise to the Royal Air Force-pilots, who have learnt to regard with real affection the Lockheed Hudsons, which are proving such a valuable 'aid in Britain’s raids from Norway to the Bay of Biscay. „ As for the United States fighter types which have been in action, the Royal Air Force is greatly impressed by the fine work done by the Curtiss Hawke in France against the German Messerschmitt. In fact, the sue-, cess of the French Air Force m shooting down twice as many ancraft as they themselves lost was largelv due to the Curtiss, which was responsible for the destruction of one in every three German aircraft brought down.

SWISS PRESS REPORTS. DENOUNCED BY NAZIS. RUGBY, December 5. What is regarded in London as significant evidence that the Germans are not so satisfied with the effects of their raids on British provincial cities as their propaganda suggests, is the fury with which the Goebbels propaganda machine has greeted objective reports on these raids in the Swiss Press, and particularly those from the London correspondent of the “Neue Zurcher Ze “l U must affirm,” wrote the correspondent, after a visit to Coventry, m which, he says, he was allowed to go where he liked and “that as in the case of London, the German attack was aimed not so much at military objectives, such as factories, but far more at terrorisation The centre of the town, which was’ partly levelled to the ground contained practically no factories, but only shops and dwellings. Coventry’s productive capacity was more interfered with by the interruption of water and other services, which was temporary, and is now largely regained, than by direct damage he said, also after a visit: “In relation to the large number of factories in the enormous industrial region around Birmingham, the objectives demolished or damaged represent only a modest proportion.. Qf Bristol, he says: “The damage appears to lie even more limited.” He concludes: “Why the Luftwaffe adopted once more civilian terronsation tactics after they had so completely failed in London is inexplicable. The result in Coventry, too, as I convinced myself in talks with people of every class, has only deepened the. bitter determination to go on with the war.”

“IN PAY OF ENGLAND.” The controlled Nazi Press bitterly attacks these observations. “In the Pay of England,” and “Switzerland at Churchill’s ' service,” are typical headlines. „ -u . “The croaking of these frogs becomes unbearable,” writes the “Boersen Zeitung.” “This bribed pondent‘has committed more than the crime of stupidity,” says the “Volkischer Beobachter.” The paperadds dark insinuations of what the Nazis will do to revenge themselves on a free Press which dares still to exist within the/ reach of German P °The’note struck by the “Frankfurter Zeitung” is' a curious illustration of how easily the blatant boastfulness and bulying typical of the Nazi in ascendance will switch back to the whining of an aggrieved victim which is a characteristic technique of- the Nazi in difficulty. Across its .front page this paper, writes: “A nation of 80,000,000 people fighting for its bare existence finds itself attacked, insulted and slandered by the newspapers of a tiny State whose Government claims to be neutral. This report earns infamy for- the correspondent* that wrote it, for the . newspaper. that printed it, and for the Swiss public that tolerates such things.” . It is thought in London that such ex.travagance of attack can. only serve to enhance the already high reputation for objectivity and veracity which the Swiss Press has long enjoyed. ’ ■'