BIGGEST YET

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 24 October 1941, Page 5

BIGGEST YET

NIGHT RAID ON NAPLES lONS 05 111 \V\ BOMBS DItOiTED T \ ICC. I I \ SI OK \GI DEPOT lßec |.l« pin - Kllgtiy, Oct flip I! A I . night laid oil Naples on 20th Oilo.'icr was one of the biggest yet made in the central Mediterranean, slates tin* All Min Istry news service. Ihe attack was Tiali as heavy again .is the raid nn the city five nights before and last ec for five hours. Many toils of nigh explosive bombs were dropped. Areas a quarter mile square in the target area were left in flames, which mse a thousand teet in the air and clouds of smoke reached t«> the height of more than twelve thousand feet. '1 tie first formation of heavy R.A.F. bombers took off laden with incenniaric: and otlvr aircraft followed with clocklikc regularity. The targe: was a storage d< pot near the harbour e and early raider did their work well, u “There w;m no mi taking Vesuvius s for the target last night," said one t pilot. "Vesuvi i wa n t in it Most < the biggest they had ever een. Early - m tne raid half a ton of bombs was dropped right in the middle of the c blaze. s A pilot said. “Wo saw two Jong - buildings gutted with flarnc raging ml‘ ; side bare walls and licking through the - winnow" Groat havoc was caused by o heavy bombs .each weighing nearly 1 two tons Bui'ding*-- wore seen .-way:l ing outwards and then falling in towards the point of the bomb bursts. - The explosions of one of these bombs - was seen from another aircratt twenty - ; Lighter bombs were dropped on the j railway station and set it ablaz.c and demolished entire building'- One pilot l flying at about 12.000 feet saw a black g column of smoke in front of him spirali> ling slowly up in the still air There was a pall of smoke over the harbour, t A-A, gunfire crackled from positions s 1 all round the Gulf of Naples throughout the attack, but none of our aircraft s was hit. After bombing a searchlight post was machine-gunned and on the way home several fires were started in Sicily, one on the aerodrome at Catania. —8.0. W.