R.A.F. RAIDERS

Grey River Argus, 12 September 1940, Page 7

R.A.F. RAIDERS

BOMB BERLIN AGAIN New Weapon Worries Enemy CELLULOID MISSILES CAUSE Fl RES. I [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, September 10. The Berlin correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain reports that Berlin had an air raid alarm for 43 minutes last night, and a number of flares were dropped on the northern outskirts. The Berlin New s Agency admits that R.A.F. bombs fell in th e Moabit district, also in the north of Berlin, whei|r fncendiary bombs struck houses on a main street, and set fire •to the roofs of buildings. A house was destroyed. BERLIN, September 10. Authorised circles state that the R.A.F. have dropped 1,000,000 sel*’ignition celluloid cards in Germany, in the past four weeks, and set fi’ ; ‘ to crons, barns and schools in Westphalia, Hanover, and the Harz Mountains, also in southern and central Germany. On P plane could carry 250,000 of th G cards, which are two inches square. RUGBY, September 10 It was learned from an authoritative source, to-night, that the R.A.F. i s using a form of incendiary Weapon, which could be described as a selfigniting leaf. It is designed to set fir? for example, to military stores standing in the open, an arsenal or am - munition dump, or engineers’ stores in the field, military supplies in open trucks in a marshalling yard, or park s °f military lorries and other similar objectives. It would also set light under suitable conditions to a wood in which military unit's or a depot or ammunition plant wer P concealed. It is known that th? enemy has concealed such targets in Ihe woods.

The accusation made by the Germans that th P “leaves" cause poisoning, i R false. The leaf is not poisonous, but if handled would of course cause burns, just as every other incendiary bomb would. The air attack on London is presented in German wireless broadcasts as a great and exhilafa’t'ng event, and the terrorist quality of the raid? is, by implication, constantly emphasised. Ther e has been no disposition here to minimise the serious nature of the civilian casualties caused, but the R.A.F. will not be deflected by this from its declared purpose of confining its attacks on German-, and German-occupied (territory to military objectives.

The Reich’s propaganda office, today, attempted in wireless broadcasts to demonstrate how ineffective are the British air attacks, by the publication of ih P casualty figures, fldeclared that, between May 10 and August 31, th e total' casualties inflicted during British air-raids on German territory/were 78 persons killed, 29 grave’.v wounded, und 22 slightly wounded. These figures, if any confidence, could/ be .placed.;, in Nazi statistics, would be received here with nothing but satisfaction, s n<v it is no oart of British stategy to kill and maim civilians, or to destroy their homes, and would at the same tim e manifestly serve to underline the accuracy of th e aim of the R.A.F. pilots, since the scal e and intensity of th e attack s on military objectives in Germany during the past months by the R.A.F. Is widely known.

Apart altogether from th e attacks on military objectives in Germanoccupied territory, and the bombing of trcop concentrations, naval and military formations, and dumps in Germany itself, the R.A.F. has during the period mentioned in the German wireless, carried out 139 raids on aerodromes, 54 on aircraft, works, 57 on munition works and chemicaL or .supply depots, 139 on oil plants or depot-:., 13 on blast furnaces, 18 on. power stations, and 25 oh miscellaneous targets. Comment, is further made in London that casualties so slight as these given by the German wireless seem hardly to warrant the many_ angi y fulminations about the British bombing of civilian objectives, nor, indeed, the present loudly-proclaimed reprisal policy.

Fleet Air Arm NORWEGIAN ACTIVITY . [British Official Wireless] RUGBY, September 10. Further successes by th 6 Fleet Air Arm against enemy supply ships off the Norwegian coast Eire disclosed by an Admiralty communique, which states: Aircraft again carried out an offensive reconnaisance over the Norwegian coast, yesterday. This confirmed that two of tn P three tanks of the oil depot or Dol.vic, which was attacked by Skuas on August 8, ar e completely destroyed, and the third tank and th e pipeline ar e severely damaged Yesterday, Skuas attacked an enemy supply ship of about 2,500 tons in Haugesund, scoring hits. Enemy huts south of Bergen wer o a'so attacked with bombs, and hits were obtained. Three of -the huts were completely destroyed, and others were' damaged. Our aircraft encountered intense opposition from anti-aircraft batteries, and one Skua is missing. Suas and Swordfish, on September 8, left two enemy supply ships sinking and abandoned by their crews, all our aircraft returning safely. On August 28, Skuas set tire to oil tanks in th A Bergen area, and a motor patrol vessel, and also scored direct hits on a 2000 ton supply ship. All our aircraft returned safely. Skuas on August 19 attacked two 3000 ton transports, obtaining directhits on one of them, and also attacked oil tanks north of Haugesund. AH our aircraft returned safely. i

Skuas on August 8 set fire to the oil depot at Dolvic all our aircraft again returning safely. On August 1, Skuas successfully bombed a wireless station and a 4 000 ton supply ship, leaving the latter in a sinking condition and abandoned bv th P -crew. All our aircraft returned safely. Many offensive operations were carried out previous to this. These repeated attacks are adding considerably to th P enemy's difficulties i’ l an area where sea transport and o:’ supplies are vital.