ISOLATED RAIDERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24421, 5 October 1940, Page 11

ISOLATED RAIDERS

ENGLISH AREAS BOMBED DAMAGE AND CASUALTIES DUELS OVER NORTH SEA (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, Oct. 3. Heavy rain and dense mist, reducing visibility to a few hundred yards, drew a curtain over the English Channel this morning and reduced German aerial activity to isolated raiders, which appeared in the vicinity of the Midlands, also over north-east and soutli-east towns A solitary bomber flying low ovei a Midlands town released a row of explosives and incendiaries and dam aged a factory and a large school There were a number of casualties. A.R.P squads rescued many chil dren and factory workers from beneath the wreckage. A raider bombed and machinegunned a main line train from London as it was passing a small Midlands town Three people were sent to hospital. Bombing indiscriminately, a small umber of raiders kept the London anti-aircraft defences in action for the longest period since the outbreak of war. Road traffic and pedestrians carried on as usual. Some bombs were dropped in the south-east district. Daylight raiders also dropped bombs near South-east England and East London hospitals, shattering windows and wrecking shops and houses. A German bomber was shot down in the afternoon near Hertford. The four members of the crew surrendered to farm hands. The plane narrowly missed . woods and crashed through a hedge into a field. Heinkels Destroyed Describing recent air duel over the North Sea, the Air Ministry news service says: A Heinkel 115 seaplane dived out of a dense cloud over the North Sea and dropped two bombs towards *' a convoy. Both bombs missed Believing that he had the sky to himself, the German pilot made ready for a second attack, but a fighter of the Coastal Command escorting the convoy swooped through a cloud bank and with two machine-gun bursts set the enemy afire. The Heinkel's tanks blew up, drenching the nose of the Blenheim with oil. Near sea level the seaplane broke into pieces. Because the windows of the British fighter were so thickly coated with the enemy's oil the pilot and navigator had difficulty on the journey back, but made a safe landing. Another incident occurred when, while a night patrol was off the East Anglian coast, a Hudson of the Coastal Command, intercepted two Heinkel bombers The Hudson singled out one Heinkel for an attack, manoeuvring so that both the front and rear guns could be used alternatively The German was destroyed. The other Heinkel fired a short, ineffective burst at long range and then made off. ... Wednesday's Battles The Air Ministry announced that up to 11 p.m 10 enemy aircraft were destroyed in air fights over Britain on Wednesday, nine by R.A.F. fighters and one by anti-aircraft fire. It has now been ascertained that the Nazi bomber which exploded in mid-air after being hit by an antiaircraft shell was destroyed before midnight on Tuesday. The explosion was terrific, pieces of the plane being scattered for miles The total of enemy aircraft destroyed that day should thus be increased by one. Two more Nazi aircraft are added to Monday's total, these having been brought down by Lewis gun fire. German Claims The Bremen radio alleges thai 13,000 persons have been killed or injured in London "since the reprisal attacks began." A German communique claims that air raids against London and numerous military objectives in the South of England and the Midlands caused heavy damage • It says that several enemy planes penetrated northern and western frontier regions in Germany and occupied territory and dropped bombs without causing damage to objectives of military or war economic importance.