LEFT IN FLAMES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 218, 13 August 1940, Page 8

LEFT IN FLAMES

PLANTS IN GERMANY. SOME BIG EXPLOSIONS. (British Official Wireless.) Received August 13, 1.15 p.m. RUGBY, Aug. 12. Further details of the R.A.F. raids over Germany on Sunday night, are contained in an Air Ministry bulletin. The aircraft which attacked the synthetic oil plant at Dortmund reported that an explosion of exceptional violence loilowed the Propping of their bombs. Though hying at several thousands or lent, the crews could hear the sound of the explosion above the roar of their engines, which is very unusual.

The oil plant at Castro-Prauxel was left burning briskly. Severe damage was also done to plant at Wanneeickel. At Gelsenkirchen over 50 heavy bombs and many incendiary bombs were dropped on an oil plant.. Here again the pilots saw fires and an explosion through the darkness as their bombs hit tfie plant. The Dortmund electricity power station was attacked by ail aircraft whose pilot saw four of his bombs hit the buildings. A few minutes afterwards came a vivid blue flash. Another electric power station was bombed at Hattiiigen.

Accurate bombing from high altitudes was a feature of Sunday's dayl.ght raids by medium bombers when lor the third day running an aerodrome in Guernsey was bombed. At Vichy the French Under-Secre-tary for Air announced that the French air force brought down 982 German planes and lost 300 between May 10 and Juno 6.

See “Bombed Again”—Page 7.