MASS RAIDS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 229, 26 August 1940, Page 7

MASS RAIDS

SATURDAY’S ATTACKS. WAVES OF BOMBERS. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, Aug. 25. The Air Ministry states that two big mass raids began on Saturday. There were 1500 machines in the. first attack. Three hundred bombers with their escorts extended inland, causing the London anti-aircraft batteries to go into action. Simultaneously, 500 bombers and fighters raided the Portsmouth area. The sergeant-pilot of a Spitfire squadron shot down five Messerschmitts in three battles. His squadron engaged 20 Junkers with at least 20 escorts. Over the Thames Estuary a squadron destroyed four Messerschmitts and probably a fifth. A Hurricane squadron patrolling the Thames Estuary encountered 30 Junkers and 30 Messersclimitts and destroyed a Junkers and Messerschmitt and damaged a second Messerschmitt. At the same time 12 Hurricanes intercepted 15 Heinkels and 15 Messerschmitts and shot down a Heinkel and Messerschmitt and probably destroyed a second Heinkel and damaged a third. Spitfires encountered 50 Messerschmitt Jaguars escorted by an equal formation of fighters. The Spitfires destroyed two and damaged three GerBoulton Paul Defiant pilots were three times in operation during the day attacking 24 Junkers, of which they destroyed four. Then they went on and shot down a Heinkel and damaged a Messerschmitt. RUNNING FIGHTS. There were 80 German aircraft in the first wave, which began at 7.45 a.m. and lasted till 9 a.m., states the British Official Wireless. Before 10 o’clock the second-wave attacks had started. Formations of Dorniers, Junkers, each of 30 or 40 bombers followed one after another over Kent. German fighters flying high over them. The sky was cloudless. During the second-wave raids above East Kent, a Spitfire squadron had a series of running fights, which lasted for one hour and a-half. They first met a formation of 30 or' 40 Junkers 88 bombers flying in herring-bone pattern. A pilot who found himself underneath this formation sprayed five leading German bombers with machinegun bullets. Others climbed to attack some 30 German fighters flying nearly five miles high. In the clear air at this great height while each pilot inhaled from his oxygen apparatus, a series of dog fights began. Two Messersclimitts, 109 and 110, went down. A Spitfire squadron chased one Messerschmitt 109 across to France and saw it crash miles inland from Calais. They shot down a ; second Messerschmitt into the sea off Cap Gris Nez. Over Ramsgate a Hurricane squadron destroyed three Junkers 88 bombers and a Messerschmitt 109. One of the pilots, a Polish sergeant, made a German bomber burst into flames and fall into the sea. Then he sent a German fighter crashing after it. Between 200 and 300 incendiary bombs were dropped during a prolonged Midlands raid early on Saturday morning. Many fell near a town, causing a nember of fires. High-explo-sive bombs were also dropped. Home Guards in the Midland area reported seeing a parachute descending. The opinion is that this is a repetition of the old hoax. Explosive ’ and incendiary bombs were dropped in 1 a south-west district, where four small houses were wrecked. There were a number of casualties, some fatal. The north-east cogst had its longest raid since t'he war. Enemy planes passed over a coastal town and dropped 15 bombs in the outskirts at intervals of a few yards. Houses were damaged ; and a gas-main set on fire. Other bombs fell inland. Anti-aircraft batteries were heavily engaged. The total damage was slight considering the length of the raid and the number of explosions. NUMEROUS FIRES. A flight-lieutenant, who was recently awarded the D.F.C., caught a Heinkel near a Surrey town early in the morning, chased it 50 miles and shot it down in flames in the sea. He also damaged another Heinkel. High-explosive and incendiary bombs fell in London during t'he raids. The numerous fires suggest that the incendiaries were dropped in large containers known as “Molotov breadbaskets.” An incendiary bomb hit the roof of a hospital and nurses helped the firemen to extinguish it. A high-explosive ‘bomb killed a Go-year-old widow sheltering under stairs instead of in the backyard shelter. Londoners continued going about their business calmly. The buses, trams and trains carried on as usual. Shortly before the third warning on Saturday two sudden bursts of antiaircraft fire excited the home-going theatre crowds in the London area. Searchlights were sweeping the sky in all directions and the hum of a plane could be heard, then sounds of explosions. Screaming bombs were dropped in the London area. A bilge vivid rod glow appeared in the sky a few minutes later. One bomb was heard to explode in a densely-packed area in London. It is believed that a now type of “silent” bomb was dropp°d near a south-east town on August 22. A large crater was formed a few yards from cottages, the occupants of which had not 'heard explosions. TRAWLER’S EXPLOIT. An Admiralty communique states that when the trawler Arctic Trapper was attacked by enemy aircraft this afternoon she shot down two enemy bombers into the sea and probably damaged two others (states the British Official Wifeless). The trawler was machine gunned by enemy fighters, which were escorting a force of German bombers. The- first shell burst between two enemy bombers. and it is probable that the aircraft received damage. T'he second shell scored a direct hit on another bomber, which was seen to turn over and come down in the sea. There were no casualties in the Arctic Trapper. The Air Ministry states that since the outbreak of war the Germans had lost 3253 planes to midnight on August 23. The Italians had lost 122 and the British 889, of which 20 were in the Middle East.