GERMAN BOMBERS ATTACK SHIPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23718, 26 July 1940, Page 7

GERMAN BOMBERS ATTACK SHIPS

CHANNEL AND THAMES AREAS * TWELVE. ENEMY MACHINES SHOT DOWN By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received Jnly 25, 7.40 p.m.) British Wireless , LONDON. Jnly 25 Since the small hours of Wednesday morning, states an Air Ministry bulletin, Spitfire fighters and anti-aircraft guns have been beating off attacks by German bombers, fighters and mine-laying aircraft oi) ships round the British coasts. Twelve enemy aircraft are known to have been destroyed yesterday, 10 by fighters and two by anti-aircraft guns. Two British fighters are missing, but the pilot of one is known to be safe. A squadron of Spitfires fought the day's biggest air battle when patrolling in the morning off the south-east coast. They spotted 18 German bombers in arrowheads of three, then three Messerschmitt 109's above and behind the bombers, then another 12 Messerschmitt 109 s higher still, and finally a formation of Heinkel 1 1 3 fighters. The feritish fighters attacked in line astern. A Spitfire pilot who attacked one of the Messerschmitts had fired only a fraction of a second's burst when the Messerschmitt burst into flames, and the German pilot was shot out, together with pieces of his aircraft. What was afterward discovered to be a rubber dinghy, the- first known to'be carried .by a Messerschmitt 109, also fell out. Before driving the enemy cavalcade back over the Channel the Spitfires destroyed five Messerschmitt 109's. Rain and cloud prevented them from seeing what happened to nine others which were hit by their bullets. Over 60 British and German fighters took part in another battle over the east coast yesterday afternoon, in which two German fighters were shot down. The battle occurred when German bombers, escorted by fighters, attacked a convoy in the Thames Estuary. British fighters swooped down while the Germans were bombing the merchantmen, and the raiders fled. One German aeroplane dived, smoke pouring from its tail, and smashed into fragments in a narrow street, burying itself 14 feet deep without damaging property. . German bombers twice raided shipping off the south-east coast yesterday. One bomber Was shot down while trying to give a small boat, armed with an anti-aircraft gun, a severe dose of bombs. Another unsuccessfully attacked a small freighter in the Channel last evening. Three salvoes fell wide. Fighters chased the raider across the Channel, and it appeared to dive into the sea near the .French coast. For the first time since the beginning of the air war against Britain, no raids were reported last night, but residents on the seafron't were awakened by guns, and watched a convoy in the North Sea twice drive off bombers, which apparently did not hit the ships.