ENEMY AIR RAIDS

Grey River Argus, 6 December 1940, Page 7

ENEMY AIR RAIDS

ON several cities Tuesday’s Operations [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, December 4. An intensive, but comparatively short, attack was made on Birmingham, last night, by a considerable force of raiders'. The casualties were surprisingly low, and t.iu majority of the damage was confined to dwellings and shops. A raider, believed to be Italian, Last night dropped three bombs on a south-east coast town, damag.ng shops and an hotel, but causing no casualties. Explosive bombs struck a London convent last night, where 100 were sheltering. Several were killed or seriously injured. A.R.P. woikers, after working all night, are still extricating people from the debris. Eleven nuns, who went to the chapel, were not hurt. A 13-years-old g-rl, who left the convent shelter to buy her parents’ supper, heard the bombs. She rushed back, to see he? father dug out, seriously injured. He? mother is still buried Another bomb demolished the rear of a block of flats opposite the convent, killing a woman and injuring a number of people. Apart from members of the fire services, 41 members of rescue parties have been killed and 510 injured in the London area. According to an official announcement in London, anti-aircraft guns have shot down more than 400 enemy planes to date. The total enemy raiders brought down over Britain has reached 3000. The British losses are 850.

Both the Minister for Information (Mr Duff Cooper) and the Undersecretary for Air (Captain Balfour - answered questions in the Commons regarding the Government policy to publish or withhold the names of British places bombed by the Germans.

Captain Balfour said: “The general policy is to publish the names of places bombed, if in any particular case this can be done without, conveying information of value to the enemy. In accordance with this policy, tlie nam e of Coventry was released while the . names of other localities were not. I am fully aware of the desirability of giving early information to the public as to the results of air-raids on this country, and counteracting the grossly-exaggerat-ed claims made by the enemy communiques. These are often deliberately framed to tempt, us to make contradictory comment on enemy success or the failure of his operations. I cannot, therefore, give any complete undertaking that immediate and detailed publication will be made in any case where it is considered that this ,would convey informtaion of value to the enemy, which he is anxious to obtain.”

Mr Duff Cooper said that no indication was given to lhe Press re " garding the importance of the Coventry attack. They ar e quite capable of forming ’an estimate of the importance of the event. Practising aerial tactics over an aerodrome on Wednesday morn ng, a Spitfire pilot of the R.A.F. Fighter Command, sighted a Heinkel HI. bomber in th c distance, and at once gave chase, says the Air Ministry News Service. He pursued it in and out of the clouds right across the North Sea to the coast of Hollandthen lost it, but his journey was not wasted. As he turned to come home, h e saw at the mouth of the Scheldt another Heinkel HI. flying below him. He dived on it, and forced it down almost to sea level, fired two bursts from eight machine-guns, and watched it plunge in th e water Twenty-five hundred concrete houses, with air-raid shelters, ar? already under construction at Coventry. Sir Cyril Newall, in a speech, said' There is nd doubt that the lads of the R.A.F. are magnificent. There is no other word for it. I am sure they will do everything that England expects of them,

He added: I have handed over my post to Sir Charles Portal with considerable regret, but ther e is no other to whom I would have handed it over with greater confidence. ■ .British fighters are being fitted with cannon, the chief advantages of which are longer range and damaging power. The trajectory of th? machine-guns used in Hurricanes 'and Spitfires drops sharply beyond a strictly-limited range, and fighters are finding it increasingly difficult to shoot down powerful armourplated raiders. Those equipped with cannon have accounted recently for a number of raiders. It is not permissible to state how many cannons R.A.F. machines are carrying. It is believed that the new armament — the Hispano-Suiza gun—should prove more effective than the eight Browning machine-guns. The French found that the Hispano-Suizas were most effective against German tanks. BOMBS AT DOVER. RUGBY, December 4 Enemy activity over Britain, today has been very slight, states a communique. Shortly after midday, bombs were dropped at Dover, doing some damage, but causing few casualties.

Lighter Raids ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT. [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.l (Received December 6, 12.45 p.m.) LONDON. December 5. The Air Ministry, in a report says: In the early hours of Wednesday night, aircraft flew over London and over the Midlands. They dropped high explosive bombs and incendiary bombs. The casualties were few and the damage was slight. The activity had ceased by midnight. (Received December 5. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, December 5. A priest and a widow overnight were standing beside the body of the widow’s brother, who was killed in the previous air-raid. They were talking of the funeral arrangements. A bomb hit the back of the house; and both were injured. (Received December 6, 1.32 a.m.) LONDON, December 5. The London morning and evening papers are not publishing on Christ-

mas Day, unless' developments of national importance warrant it. DOCTORS NEEDED AT LONDON SHELTERS (Recieved December 5, 7.55 p.m.) 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, including 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.