BOMB DAMAGE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 217, 12 August 1940, Page 7

BOMB DAMAGE

HOUSES STRUCK. WILD NAZI CLAIMS. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received August l£, 1U.35 a.m. LONDON, Aug. 12. The official communique .on today’s air battles says a number of bouses at Portland and Weymouth were damaged by bombs —some seriously. Some damage was done to communications. An oil tank was set on fire, but the blaze was soon extinguished.

A series of German communiques was issued this afternoon describing the Channel - air battles. Tho latest admits that fourteen German planes are missing and says the Germans attacked a Channel convoy of 70 merchantmen protected by fourteen warships, of which several warships were hit.

“A further attack is progressing, new relays of German planes being sent over.”

Two separate squadrons allegedly brought down 22 and 16 British planes, respectively. The German air successes are “increasing from minute to minute.”

Other communiques claimed that seven barrage balloons and five Spitfires were brought down near Dover. In the mention of the air battles at Southampton and Canterbury the Germans alleged that bombs destroyed important sections of Portland harbour, setting fire to oil tanks. Large fires were observed and loud explosions heard. 3110 walls of the quay are reported to have collapsed. Wrecks of burning ships aro said to litter the water. Warehouses at Castletown are claimed to have been set on fire. Various little boats along the Channel are busy picking up crews from British planes which hav-e been shot down. The German High Command cl aim ed that 40 British planes were brought down in a great air bati/e over Portland. The Berlin News Agency later reported a general air battle over the Channel from Portland to Dover. It claimed that 73 British planes were brought down and that during the attack on Portland harbour most of the shipping in the harbour was sunk. DAMAGING RAIDS. ON CHANNEL ISLANDS. ENEMY PLANTS BOMBED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Aug. 10. An Air Ministry communique states : Yesterday afternoon R.A.F. aircraft made 50 bombing and machine-gun attacks on the enemy-occupied aerodrome in Guernsey and the seaplane base at Lc Poulmice, near Brest. Damage was done to aircraft, hangars, and aerodrome defence posts. The attack on Guernsey aerodrome was continued in the evening by aircraft of the Coastal Command, and hangars and aircraft were repeatedly bombed and several fires started.

Other aircraft of tho Coastal Command bombed oil tanks at the Dutch seaport of Flushing, and fires broke out after the attack. Munition factories at Ludwigshaven and Cologne were the main objectives of last night’s operations in Germany, and our aircraft crews report that heavy damage was inflicted. Other aircraft attacked railway communications in the Ruhr and aerodromes in Germany. Holland and Belgium. From these day and night operations all our aircraft have returned safely. An Avro Anson of the Coastal Command was lost on a routine patrol. FIRES IN HANGARS. In the attack last night on the Guernsey aerodrome, winch formerly was used by holiday-makers visiting the island but is now occupied by Nazi aircraft, the raiders swept down in three waves at short intervals. They dropped heavy and incendiary bombs, winch damaged the landing ground and started fires round the nangars. In a few minutes there was white smoke over tho ground, while a thin black column of smoke rose 1000 ft. The pilots could- see Nazi aircralt parked near the hangars, and they redoubled their attack. When they left the ground was studded with leaping red flames. , , _ Other aircraft of the Coastal Command when bombing the Nazi oil tanks at Flushing last night pressed home the attack in the face of searchlights and heavy anti-aircraft lire. Many bombs were aimed at the tanks, which were clearly visible in the moonlight. One pilot was caught in a searchlight as he took final aim; ho dropped the bombs, but as he flew away lie saw he had started many fires on the target. The gunner of another aircraft looked hack as his machine passed over the target and let go a salvo, and he saw a big explosion and flames as the bombs scored a direct hit. The munition factories at Cologne and Ludwigshaven were both subjected to sustained attacks fast night by strong forces of aircraft'which, after inflicting heavy damage, left the factories in flames. Nearly 15 tons ot high-explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped on the Cologne factory in the course of a series of raids which began at 10.45 p.m. and continued till shortly after midnight. EXPLOSIONS IN WORKS. Within a quarter of an hour of the first attack, the targe* was ablaze, and the following aircraft had no difficulty in locating the objectives, and adding to the damage. One raider straddled the munition works with a lmc ot hcavy-ealibre bombs, and started an intense white fire which ended in a heavv explosion. Another violent explosion was recorded on the western edge of the target, while other crews reported that their bomb bursts were followed by brilliant explosions. Ail enemy fighter which tried to intercept one of the raiders in the target area was driven off by the bomber s rear gunners. The factory at Ludwigshaven, near Mannerheim,’ was systematically bombed for nearly half an hour by relays of aircraft. Here, too, fires which were started by the first attackers guided the following aircraft to the scene. Salvoes were repeatedly seen to fall across the targets, and at one stage of the attack the factory area was lit up by the blue flames of a heavy explosion, which later led to further outbreaks of fire. HITS AT LE BOURGET. Besides the concentrated attack on the Guernsey aerodrome the island was also attacked yesterday by a single British raider. The pilot of a medium bomber who was unable to find bis assigned target in Northern France because of fog and low cloud visited the island in search of an alternative. Finding Le Bo.urget aerodrome (Paris) occupied by 40 to 50 enemy aeroplanes, be directed his attention to this, and after .scoring a direct hit on a large transport plane and damaging

some hangars, he carried out a low-fly-ing machine-gun attack on the defence posts in spite of heavy anti-aircraft fire.

Another medium botul/fr from the same squadron also carried out a successful daylight raid yesterday on the seaplane base at Le Poulmice, close to the naval harbour at Brest.-' Diving out of clouds and taking the defences completely by surprise, the raider dropped bombs in a line which started among a dozen medium-sized flyingboats lying alongside jetties and ended on a group of large hnngai's. Smoke was scon to be pouring from the jetties and hangars. The raider made good his escape back into the claudk