AIR ASSAULTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 195, 19 July 1941, Page 8

AIR ASSAULTS

HAMMERING THE ENEMY. (United Press Association —Copyright' i (Rec. 12 noon.) RUGBY, July 18 ) I A continuous air assault on encm; I shipping is the keynote of official mes sages issued to-night. An Air Ministry communique state; that, despite unfavourable weathe: over the Straits of Dover to-day, th< R.A.F. continued to harass enctnj shipping off the French coast. Ar enemy supply ship of about GOOO tons : escorted bv patrol vessels and fighters was attacked by our bombers off Dunkirk. Several direct hits on the ship were obtained and later reconnaissance showed that a ship corresponding tc ■ this tonnage was aground near Dun- ; kirk. Fighters which escorted our ■ bombers shot down one enemy fighter. Two of our bombers and one fighter are missing. The Air Ministry’s News Service says it was a Beaufort aircraft which scored a hit on a vessel anchored in the roads at St. N a zaire. As the pilot approached the target lie saw several ships lying in the roads and they were protected by a fierce anti-aircraft barrage. He selected a 4000-ton vessel and dived beneath a curtain of flak to make his attack from a level only mast-high. Turning sharply on to the ship from her port beam, the Beaufort’s crew saw one stick of bombs burst directly on the ship and another stick fell just short of her. As the aircraft flew away the rear-gunner opened fire and shot out a searchlight. BLITZ ON HULL. Hull last night, received'one of the heaviest attacks from the Luftwaffe for a long time. A large number of heavy bombs damaged houses, commercial buildings, industrial premises, and shops, and incendiaries started a ring of fires. The anti-aircraft batteries put up a powerful barrage, but were unable to prevent the raiders arriving in relays. Many casualties occurred in the shelters, three of which were demolished in one street. Some pier.so ns were rescued alive, hut most were fatally injured. A boy aged 10 rescued his injured mother from the wreckage of their home, but later was killed by a new fall of debris. A 17-year-old girl was rescued from another building in which five relatives were killed. A rescue squad was unable to liberate two men owing to the position of a third man, who was dead and pi nnecl clown under a heavy beam. A doctor amputated the dead man’s leg, after which the others were freed. Five men staying at a hostel were trapped under the debris when a bomb demolished part of the premises. Two of the rescued w r ere injured. A direct hit killed a fire-watcher on a tower at industrial premises and a heavy bomb split a cinema in two. A German communique says the Luftwaffe bombed warehouses, oil storage depots, and docks at Hull, and aerodromes in the Midlands. A communique states that enemy aircraft have flown near our coast today, but none has flown inland. There were no reports of bombs having been dropped up to 8 p.m. An enemy bomber was intercepted by our fighters off the South Coast this afternoon and shot down.—Official Wireless.