ENEMY AIR RAIDS

Grey River Argus, 6 February 1941, Page 6

ENEMY AIR RAIDS

ON EAST ENGLISH COAST Four Planes Downed on Tuesday [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, February 4. The Air Ministry and Home Security Ministry state in a communique. “On Tuesday morning, a single enemy bomber dropped bombs on a town on the east coast. Some damage was done to houses and utility services, and a tire started, but soon put out. There was a small number of casualties. One bomber was shot down into the sea off the Suffolk coast by our fighters. There has been little other enemy activity over this country today. A few bombs have been dropped in Kent, but little damage and no serious casualties have been reported. This afternoon, our fighters, without loss to themselves, shot down two enemy fighter bombers and an enemy lighter. An East Coast town suffered its worst damage cf the war this morning when a lone raider, later destroyed, dived from the clouds, and dropped a line of about 20 bombs, straddling the town. An anti-aircraft shell hit the ’plane as it turned towards the sea. A lifeboat raced out in an.attempt to save the members of the crew, while in the town, through which the raider left a line of ruin, rescue squads toiled to dig out civilians buried under the wreckage. Two German airmen are believed to have been saved, lhe town’s casualties are not yet known. Details of the destruction are announced by an Air Ministry communique, of four German aircraft during another day of hit-and-run raids, directed at convoys, aerodromes, and towns in the south-east and east of Britain. A Dornier 17, which bombed an East Anglian town, this morning, was chased out to sea and shot down by two Hurricanes, the pilots being members of the Burma squadron. Three of the four of the crew were seen swimming from the wreckage. The pilots saw the bomber trying to sneak through the clouds at 3,000 feet, and they closed in on either side. Both pilots, worrying the Dornier like terriers, scored hits, which sent him crashing into the sea, after jettisoning the rest of his bombs. Two Spitfire pilots were flying off tne south-east coast at about 2,000 feet, this afternoon, when two Messerschmitt 109’s dived down in front. One Spitfire, piloted by a sergeant who won the D.T’.C a month ago, dived after the Messerschmitts. He got in seven-seconds bursts at one, and blew it to pieces. He was able to damage the other before it sped into tne clouds. Two Messerschmitt 110’s were destroyed by Hurricanes near the Thames Estuary. LONDON, February 4. London had a short alert last night, the second in 15 days. Single aircraft dropped a few incendiary bombs in the London area, but the fires were quickly extinguished, and no serious damage was done. Raiders were also over East Anglia early in the evening, but there also the damage was not serious. The Middlesex Hospital and the National Temperance Hospital were among the London buildings damaged in recent air raids. Tuesday Night Raids IN EASTERN ENGLAND. (Received February 6, 12.10 a.m.;. LONDON, February 5. The Air Ministry in a communique states: Enemy planes on Tuesday night raided places, mostly in the eastern part of the country and in the east Midlands. The damage was nowhere very heavy. A few bonms fell in th c London area. There are a number of casualties reported from all of the areas, but it is not large. Our night patrols destroyed an enemy bomber, which crashed in flames, the crew being killed.

RELIC OF THE GUILDS DESTROYED IN LONDON. RUGBY. February 4. Destroyed in th-> Great Fire of London in 166 G. and rebuilt from designs of Christopher Wren, -Im Haberdashers Hall has again been destroyed by lire. It was during a raid on London in December. Fortunately all th? pictures and plate had been removed to a; place of safety at the beginning of the war. It is hoped that the strongroom, which contained minute books dating from the sixteenth century, may be intact. The Haberdashers Company is thought to have existed for at, least a century before it s first! chapter in 1448. In the court room was a decorated ceiling claimed to be the best specimen of the kind in London. MEAT AND CHEESE RATIONS. RUGBY, February 4 The meat situation is slightly better than it was last week It is unlikely that tht> quantity of cheese available will be much greater in the immediate future