HEAVY POUNDING

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 256, 26 September 1940, Page 7

HEAVY POUNDING

R.A.F. ’S FINE WORK.

WIDE AREA COVERED,

(British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 11.25 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 25. In the extensive R.A.F. operations against the enemy on Tuesday night, which included a long raid on Berlin, the details of which are already known, as well as a continuation of the systematic attacks of recent nights on enemy invasion ports, only two of the aircraft employed were lost. The Finkenheers electric power station, near Frankfurt-on-Oder, more than 3UO miles from Germany’s western frontier, was located half an hour before midnight and was twice attacked with sticks of high-explosive bombs, which were seen to burst in and around the target. The main railway line near Magdeburg and the rail depot and distributing centre at Hamm were also attacked, and a number of explosions on the main sidings and sheds at Hamm were followed by a line of fires. The goodsyards at Brussels were also attacked. Hanover aerodrome was bombed from a high level, and to the north of , Emden, where night flying by the enemy was in progress, a British raider came down to 2000 ft. to drop his bombs on the hangar and runway. The flare revealed the wreckage of a hangar destroyed in the previous attack' PORTS HAMMERED. While the long-distance raids on Germany were in progress, other strong forces of bombers, operating at short range, kept up their nightly hammering of the enemy’s invasion ports from Hamburg to Le Havre, fires were started at the Hamburg docks. Bombs straddled the shipping bases at Cherbourg and at the Dutch port of Delfzil.

At Ostend repeated hits were scored on the basins and ok the harbour jetties. At Calais the .docks—the target for one of the night’s heaviest bombardments—were subjected to a series of attacks lasting nearly seven hours. Barges lying alongside the quays were hit, and fires and explosions were seen in many parts of the harbour. Before four o’clock on AVednesday morning more than 30 fires had been counted burning within the docks.

At Le Havre the raids began at IQ p.in. and continued at intervals until 5 o’clock on The lock gates were hit, warehouses were set alight, and many other fires were started.

A violent explosion marked a direct hit on what appeared to be the harbour power station. Strong opposition from the ground defences was encountered at Boulogne. Direct hits were claimed here on the wall of one dock and on the jetties between the basins, and in many parts of the outer harbour. A particularly big explosion followed by a fire wa3 seen to occur in the No. 7 dock. The German long-range gun positions at Cape Gris Nez were also attacked shortly before dawn, and numbers of hits were registered on new emplacements under construction. ■ SHIP SUNR.

A Hudson aircraft of the Coastal Command sank a German supply ship near the Frisian Islands early on AVednesday morning. There were three enemy vessels in a convoy and the Hudson made a dive-bombing attack on the largest one, which was leading. Three bombs made direct hits, and the ship was settling by the stern when the Hudson flew away, followed by anti-aircraft fire from the two' other Brest was again attacked, this time by Beauforts and Ansons of the Coastal Command. They set fire to infantry barracks, damaged docks, and started a vast fire on and around a railway* siding. , Tll . . AVhen Coastal Command Blenheims raided Cherbourg they had to contend with extremely bad visibility, but all found their objectives. One pilot had to search for' his target 35 minutes amidst intense anti-aircraft fire.