RELAYS OF BOMBERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23761, 14 September 1940, Page 11

RELAYS OF BOMBERS

ATTACKS ON HAMBURG AND BREMEN SHIPBUILDING YARDS HIT GREAT FIRES BLAZING AT DOCKS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (■Received September 13, 8.50 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 13 ' The Air Ministry states that for nearly four hours on Wednesday night relays of bombers maintained an almost continuous assault upon harbour installations, shipbuilding yards and docks at Hamburg. The first aeroplane reached the target shortly after 9 p.m. and its bombs started a fire in the docks, which served as a beacon for following raiders. As the attack developed other great fires broke out in the dock area and also to the west and north-west of' Hamburg. A series of direct hits was scored on jetties and docks to the east and west of the great Blohm and Voss shipbuilding yards. By 10.45 p.m. visibility, which had been good at the start of the raid, had deteriorated and a bomber coming in from the sea to launch its attack found the target covered by low-lying cloud, above which anti-aircraft shells could be seen bursting. Then the cloud cleared over the northern half of Hamburg, enabling the pilot to make for the docks and release his entire load in a single run across the target. At I a.m. on Thursday the crew of the last aircraft detailed for the attack could see a huge fire blazing while still 40 miles away from Hamburg. Over the docks they dropped a stick of heavy bombs/.across a line of shipbuilding yards, but, although the explosion of their bombs was seen, it was impossible for them to assess the damage caused because of the dazzling . glow from the great fire raging beneath them. V Royal Air Force bombers also attacked Bremen for nearly two hours. Bremen son fire, and what a fire!" remarked a pilot when he returned from the raid. An observer in another bomber said fires were blazing all over the place and made a solid triangle of flame, one side of which must have been two miles long. Fires were raging in all parts of Ostend when the raid on that port ended after nearly four hours. Two huge explosions sent up a column of black smoke which pierced the cloud layer 10,000 feet over the harbour. Strong forces of bomber aircraft also carried out attacks on railway stations, goods yards and an aerodrome at Berlin, docks at Wilhelmshaven, an oil plant at Monheim, an explosives factory at Frankfurt, the goods yards at Hamm, Cologne, Coblenz, Mannheim and Ehyang, the railway junction at Namur and enemy aerodromes in Germany and Holland. The Berlin radio announced that British bombers on Wednesday night attacked world-famous monuments and symbols of modern Germany. Other cities in addition to Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen suffered damage. Vs The Rome radio stated that the Royal Air Force raid on Berlin on Tuesday night resulted in 1753 casualties. ■. Berlin states that British bombers were again over the German capital last night. The Germans, however, claim that the raiders failed to reach their objectives and that no damage was done.