BOMBING OF LONDON

Grey River Argus, 25 February 1944, Page 5

BOMBING OF LONDON

TEN RAIDERS DOWNED Will Pilotless Planes be Used? LONDON, Feb. 23. Some high explosive bombs were dropped on London in the raid on Tuesday night. Mainly bombers, the raiders which got through attempted to fire the city with incendiaries, on a slightly greater scale than previously. The fire services was equal to the task, however, and this morning London was a little battered, but everything looked very much as usual. Houses, a school, and shops were hit, and there were casualties. Londoners saw an exceptionally heavy barrage. At least ten of the raiders were shot down—two by a young Canadian and one by a bank clerk from Glasgow, whose Mosquito was hit by fragments when the Dornier blew up. London’s A.A. fire power on Luesday night was at times greater and more concentrated than during any other raid of the war. Terrific barrages met the bombers which entered the Metropolitan zone. Many types of German ’planes, old and new, were identified, and some used fresh tactics, trying to elude the A.A. concentrations and searchlights. Once again the full number of enemy ’planes destroyed over Britain may not be known until the intelligence officers have verified all the claims put up by the A.A. gunners in different parts of the country.

Another Raid ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT. (Rec. 7.35.) LONDON, Feb 23. London had another air raid on Wednesday night. The gunfire was heavy, but not as heavy as on recent raids. The raid was brief. The raiders appeared to come in small numbers. They were flying fast and high. They released clusters of flares, numbers of high explosive bombs and incendiaries were dropped. STREET ABLAZE ON BOTH SIDES. LARGE BLOCK SET AFIRE. (Rec. 8.30.) LONDON, Feb. 24. Although last night’s raid on London appeared to be on a smaller scale and less sharp than that of the previous night, there were bombs dropped in various parts of the London area. The most of them were incendiaries. They were unloaded in showers. Hundreds of the incendiaries fell in one district, setting fire to a large block of flats, a garage, a factory, arfd a number of houses. Firemen fought the flames in this area for more than two hours. In another district the houses on both sides of a street were alight for a distance of two hundred yards. It is reported that high explosive bombs caused heavy casualties in another district. One bomb hit a row of terraced houses, in a well-known London street.

London’s Daylight Alert FIRST FOR SEVEN MONTHS. (Rec. 11.50.) LONDON, Feb. 24. The first daylight alert in London for seven months sounded this morning as Londoners were going to worn. Many stood in the streets, and watched two unidentified ’planes fly oyer the city at a great height, .leaving vapour trails. The ’planes were surrounded by white puffs from antiaircraft shells. ’PLANES CAME TO PHOTOGRAPH. (Rec. 12.20.) LONDON, Feb. 24. The Press Association aviation correspondent says that the enemy ’planes .apparently came over to photograph last night’s damage. No bombs are reported to have been dropped. Priceless antiques and art treasures from all over the world were destroyed in one London district during last night’s raid. High explosives considerably damaged the area. RADIUM LOST IN RUINS. (Rec. 7.35.) LONDON, Feb. 23. The “Daily Mail” says that a treasure hunt is in progress in the ruins of a bombed London hospital for two containers of radium worth £3,000. The search is being led by a “dowser” who works with a contraption, consisting of a long tube holding a Neon lamp to which a battery and head-phones are connected, and which is called the “clucking hen," also electroscope. When radium is near the “clucking hen” emits a clicking sound, and the electroscope flickers. The “dowser” explained that the containers diminished the activity of the radium to one-six-teenth of normal; and consequently it is not easily detectable under rubble. NEW ENEMY OIL BOMBS. (Rec. 7.55.) LONDON, Feb. 23. The Paris radio says that the German bombers raiding London last night for the first, time, used a new oil bomb which is much more powerful than the old one. GERMANS’ NEW FORMS OF 'ATTACK. (Rec. 7.35.) , LONDON, Feb. 23. The German News. Agency says that commanders of German bomber formations are full of ideas built up during last month, and are putting them into operation. New forms of attack proved particularly effective against certain military objectives m the London area. “Wedge” tactics were also used to pierce London s heavy defences. During these tactics ’planes fly in wild geese formation.

Luftwaffe Increased

PILOTLESS ’PLANES AND WINGED BOMBS, PLANS AGAINST LONDON UPSET. LONDON, Feb. 23. There is no doubt that the German bomber force -■ in North-west Europe has been appreciably augmented recently by bringing ’planes from other sectors of the front, and this has probably enabled the enemy to mount considerably heavier-scale raids during the past five nights against. London. It is believed that approximately 175 enemy ’planes crossed the coast and that approximately 100 reached London last night which was a slightly larger figure than on the previous two nights and the largest achieved since 1941. A view expressed in London to-day was that the recent German reprisal raids on Britain may have been due to the Luftwaffe’s disappointment at the disarrangement of their plans for using pilotless ’planes and rockets from the French coast by the repeated R.A.F. and United States attacks in the Pas de Calais area. It is suggested that the .Germans may

have been driven to use the conventional methods of attack. LONDON, Feb. 23. The most recent information makes it quite clear* that the new weapon on which the Germans pin great hopes is the jet or rocket-propelled radio-directed aircraft, which is reported to be launched into the air from inclined runways, says -the “News-Chronicle’s” air correspondent, commenting on Mr. Churchill’s reference to the Germans’ use of new weapons.' The correspondent adds: The automatic pilot keeps the machine flying on a straight level and the course is checked and controlled bv radio from the base. By these means winged bombs are directed at targets such as cities, whose big areas allow a fairly wide margin of error in aiming. Even if the winged bombs are only 2,000-pounder, thousands of tons of explosives could be lobbed on a city in a short space, provided there is a sufficient number of launching platforms and means for re-loading them quickly. The correspondent adds: This bomb is the explanation of the continuous bombing of Pas de Calais area. The Germans, are preparing to bombard London perhaps, and certainly England at long range, with such weapons. The British and American air forces are working hard to destroy the installations. DOVER STRAIT SHELLING. LONDON, Feb. 23. Between 4.26 and 5.110 a.m. coast artillery guns on the south coast, of England opened fire, on enemy shipping in the Straits, approximately forty rounds being fired. The results are not yet available.