CHEAT AIR BATTLES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 89, 14 March 1941, Page 6

CHEAT AIR BATTLES

GERMANY BATTERED. RAIDS ON LIVERPOOL; (United Press Association —Copyright) (Rec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 13. The long-awaited and possibly crucial spring battle of the air began last night with unprecedented ferocity. Britain hit Germany with the weightiest attack ever undertaken by the 11.A.E. The cities'attacked included Berlin, which had its first raid for 82 days, Bremen, Hamburg and: Bremerhaven. The Luftwaffe attempted a similar onslaught and chose Liverpool as the main target. The attack was prolong-' ed and heavy, but the Germans lost no fewer than nine planes without achieving any results comparable with the magnitude of the effort. The casualties were comparatively light. The Germans made a widespread attack on the Merseyside area. Liverpool was the centre of the attack. The first raiders arrived soon after dark and were overhead every few minutes for several hours, flying so high that their engines could be heard only faintly. The raiders dropped their bombs indiscriminately, and high-ex-, piosives shattered many houses. .- . A number of people were trapped in the debri6. Three fire-watchers, three air raid wardens, and two policemen were buried when a bomb hit a school, and a number of auxiliary firemen were killed when a heavy calibre bomb exploded in the centre of a fire theywere fighting among commercial buildings. , v • Jfire-watchers dealt effectively with showers of incendiary bombs, but some fires flared up. A German communique states that throughout the whole of la6t night, which was moonlit, several hundred bombers, in a series of waves, attacked harbour works at Liverpool and Birkenhead with very great success. The Berlin News Agency _ says the destruction in Liverpool will exceed that at Coventry. The grain warehouses at Birkenhead particularly suffered. A large mill was severely damaged, and slaughterhouses and cold storage depots on the Merseyside were destroyed: The German communique states that “the enemy dropped a large number of explosives and firebombs in the North German coastal region and Berlin and damaged a number of buildings in the residential quarters, including churches and hospitals. There was inconsiderable damage to one industrial plant. A factory at Bremen was danw aged. Twenty-four were killed and 64 injured in the raids.” The United States Embassy at Berlin states that the American Consulate at Hamburg was hit; there were no casualties. OFFICIAL SURVEY.

A communique states that “this afternoon a single enemy aircraft dropped bombs at a place in the north of Scotland. There is nothing further to report.” About dawn this morning a small number of enemy fighters and fighterbombers crossed the South-East Coast, but did not come far inland. Our fighters intercepted and shot down two enemy aircraft without loss to themselves. A few bombs were dropped, but no casualties and little damage resulted. Otherwise there was little enemy activity up to noon to-day. Of the nine enemy bombers destroyed in last night’s enemy attacks on this country it is known that five were shot down by night patrols and three by anti-aircraft gunfire. A number of other enemy bombers are known to have been damaged by various means and it is probable that several of these failed to reach their base. Late yesterday afternoon there were brief • encounters over the Straits of Dover between our fighter patrols and dnerny fighters. One enemy aircraft was destroyed and one of our fighters was lost, RAID AT CALAIS. Soon after midday to-day aircraft of the Fighter Command 'escorted a squadron of bombers across the Channel to attack the German-occupied aerodrome at Calais. Bombs were seen to burst on the aerodrome and among aircraft dispersed at one end of it. Other fighters carried out offensive patrols over the Channel and Northern France during the afternoon and destroyed an enemy fighter. An enemy bomber which crossed the South Coast later in the afternoon was promptly intercepted and shot down into the sea by British fighters: From these operations one British aircraft, a fighter, is missing.