BOMBING FROM CLOUDS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 265, 7 October 1940, Page 8

BOMBING FROM CLOUDS

NAZIS’ SUNDAY TACTICS. CIVILIAN CASUALTIES. (United Press Association—Copyright.) . (British Official Wireless.) (Bee. 1.10 p.m.) RUGBV, Oct. 0. 'lhe weather conditions to-day favoured indiscriminate bombing from above low clouds, and reports from unofficial . sources that this was largely the wor'k of lone raiders are borne out' by the following Air Ministry] and Ministry of Home Security communique : “During Sunday enemy aircraft, hying singly or in small formations, made attacks on a number of places in South-East England and in the London area. A few bombs were dropped in the East Midlands and East Anglia. At Folkestone and a town in Northamptonshire high-explosives demolished some houses and caused a small number of casualties, some of which were fatal, i. ■ ■ v' • ■

“At several other. places enemy aircraft dived from the clouds and delivered short bursts of machine-gun fire, and quickly hew off; a few persons were injured-as> a result of these attacks. Elsewhere, though bombs tell in a number of widely-separated places, little damage was caused and the number of casualties was small. 'The weather conditions made interception by our fighters difficult, but reports so far received show that one enemy hom her w as shot down.”

It is huthoritatively stated that during the week ending midnight on October 5 confirmed German aeroplane losses in the battle over Britain amounted to 104, not including machines damaged or probably lost. On the] basis of confirmed pfane losses alone, the German pilot losses are estimated to exceed 250.

In the same period the R.A.F,. lost 40 machines in and around Britain, but from these 21 pilots were saved. REPRISALS BY R.A.E.

The R.A.E. raiders last night arrived over Brest just as night was lallihg. Despite the' haze they tvere abie to.see the outlines of the: dock. Their salvoes of heavy bombs smashed the quays and damaged the dry dock. One pilot reported that his bombs, which struck a road by the side of one of the quays, caused a series of heavy explosions as if ammunition sheds had been hit. Another squadron left a crescent of fires at Gravelines after a visit in which they interspersed heavy bombs with large quantities of incendiary bombs. » Tne weather was extremely bad over tfie entire operations area and the bomber crews had to contend with severe icing conditions, violent electrical storms, and widespread low cloud, which necessitated blind flying over a great part of the route. One raider which penetrated into the Ruhr to carry out an attack on the railway yard at Hamm found the whole route almost completely covered by cloud on file outward journey, and when coming home ran into an electrical storm belt 5000 ft in depth. Other aircraft reported clouds to within 100 ft of the ground, violent static which made wireless communication impossible, and temperatures well below freezing point. The raiding forces which succeeded in reaching the Ruhr located and attacked the oil plant at Gelsenkirchen. For nearly half an hour the targets were repeatedly bombed. A series o! minor explosions followed the bursting of 'heavy-calibre bombs, and incendiary bombs scattered ,across the factory area started several fires, •; one of which quickly developed into a great blaze. Two tons of high explosive bombs were dropped on Krupp’s armament factory at Essen in a lightning attack from a high level soon after-9 o clock. In the" raid on Hamm explosions occurred after the bombs hurst. The raiding forces operating in Holland bombed the docks and harbour works at Amsterdam. Rotterdam, and Flushing. At Rotterdam heavy-calibre, bombs were seen to burst along the. dockside, and buildings on the nortn bank opposite the dock entrance were set on fire. The dock area on the south side of the river was the chief target at Amsterdam. Here great fires were visible from 20 miles away At Flushing heavy-calibre bombs which struci? the dock started a train of explosions lasting ten minutes and set fires blazing which could be seen by. the aircraft far out to sea. Bombs were also drooped on the occupied aerodromes at Schipol,--lexei, Oldebroek, and Bussum. AtOldebroek bombs were seen to burst across the landing ground close to the lighted flare path. After the attack on Bussum enemy aircraft were seen circling over the aerodrome, but were attacked by machine-gun fire and driven off. NAZI A BULLY.

Descriptions of their impressions anti expressions of opinion which two iigiitter flight-commanders broadcast on Sunday evening were listened to with interest by the general public, who are more or less passive participants in the Battle for Britain. One flight-com-mander who has five German aircraft to his credit said his pilots, as well as those of the rest of the Fighter (Dminand, were probably even more full of fight now than previously, because “we have been at grips with the Luftwaffe in so many circumstances that we have come to know their measure. It is a measure of the bully, and everyone likes to paste a bully. “But, speaking of the Luitwatte at large, I have known that, whatever their’ strength in numbers, they can \ never succeed in effectively damaging this country’s war effort. The day will come, soon I hope, when there will be a British fighter in the air for every German aircraft. I do not believe scores will stay to fight. If they do stay, there will be lew live to fight another day. , , This pilot was followed by a nightlieutenant of the Australian Air Force who comes from Brisbane.

“I agree entirely,” he said, “that if the British squadrons can keep up their present punch—and they will!—it will be a sad day tor Germany when we get anything approaching equality of numbers.