HIT AND RUN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 226, 22 August 1940, Page 8

HIT AND RUN

NAZIS OVER ENGLAND. MASS RAIDS EXPENSIVE. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received August 22, 12.35 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 21. Finding that mass raids are expensive, the German air force to-day went back to the hit-and-run tactics used in the early days of the war. Early this morning the first enemy bomber made its appearance on the South-East Coast of England. Throughout trie day German airmen, using clouds to dodge patrolling Spitfires and Hurricanes, attempted to cross the coast at points from the Isle of Wight to the Humber. Some, dropped bombs inland. Some were engaged on reaching the coast and others escaped out to sea immediately they,saw approaching British lighters.

The top scorers of the day were Spitfire pilots of an auxiliary squadron in the Midlands, who during the morning destroyed two Dorniers and severely°damaged two more. In the south of England three Hurricane pilots, flying at 7000 ft, sighted a Junkers 88 five miles away. Immediately they gave chase. The Junkers pilot hurriedly unloaded his bombs..andattempted to escape but ended by a crash on land. . Tlireo patrolling Spitfire pilots also sighted a Junkers 88 over Oxfordshire. When lie was within 400yds of the enemy bomber the squadron-leader opened fire, and after two bursts the German pilot dodged into a cloud. As he came out the pilot-officer flying the second Spitfire delivered an attack from astern. Then the squadron-leader attacked again, hut in an attempt o elude his pursuers the German pilot again sought safety in the clouds. When he came into clear air a second time the third Spitfire pilot was waiting and opened fire at only oU yards range. The Junkers gunnel fought back fiercely and kept firing until the squadron leader carried out the third attack. The Junkers then crashed in flames. A third Junkers 88 was engaged off the South Coast by throe Hurricanes. After delivering an attack irbm astern the German rear gunner was silenced. Hurricane pilots then delivered beam attacks and the Junkers caught fire. Two German airmen jumped by parachute. RESTRICTED DAMAGE.

When attacked by a fighter a Junker crashed near a south-east town. Five of the crew were killed. Another raider dropped bombs on the South-East Coast this afternoon. A row of houses was damaged, but there were no fatalities. _ ■ Bombers twice raided a South-East Coast holiday resort. Three bombers in the first raid dropped three bombs near an hotel. Fighters chased the raiders, one of which was seen falling into the sea. A bomber in the second raid dropped four bombs in some gardens. There were no casualties. The Germans continued their small scale raids this evening. lighters chased a Y~-jth-western raider which dropped five bomba and machine-gunned the outskirts of a town > before it crashed. Some were killed. Spitfires in the north-east shot down three Dorniers five miles inland anck captured a pilot. -

Three Spitfires performed a breathless aerobatic, now known as the “Victory Roll,” after they had destroyed a Dornier over a south-east town, 'the stricken German narrowly missed the clock toWer and crashed in a field, killing two pomes. It rocketed into a wood and then caught fire. AERODROME CASUALTIES. An Air Ministry communique states: “Enemy activity over this country continued this evening. The same tactics were adopted as during the earlier part of the day—aircraft singly pr m small numbers making indiscriminate attacks in various parts ot the country with some definite attempts to attack Tt AF. aerodromes. Two of the enemy aircraft ventured far . beyond the coast. Only slight damage is reported any of the aerodromes attacked, though some casualties were caused. “Damage was done to property m a Yorkshire town and in residential districts on the South Coast, both ot which suffered a number of casualties, some fatal.” GERMANS CAPTURED. A bomb from a raider on a southeastern town converted eight workmen’s houses into a huge debris-failed crater, causing fatalities, state 1 ress Association messages. A 14-year-old boy assisted his mothei to capture a German who baled out from a Dornier near a south-eastern village. Farm workers caught two others. Home Guards made prisoners of many Germans who baled out. I A woman level-crossing keeper acted promptly to save a train in a northeastern raid. The raider came down low awaiting to attack the train. The woman telephoned to the next signalbox and had the train stopped, but Spitfires appeared and shot down the raider in a field where a searchlight crew captured the airmen. The New Zealand High Commissioner (Mr W. J. Jordan) and Mrs Jordan are acting as host and hostess in their suburban home to a mother w-ho left an Anderson shelter with a monthold baby alter a raid to find only hall her house remaining. The Jordans own home was untouched, a bomb tan-

ins some distance away.