ATTACKS PRESSED

Opotiki News, Volume III, Issue 316, 27 September 1940, Page 1

ATTACKS PRESSED

ROYAL AIR FORCE BOMBS FOR GERMANY INVASION BASES DOCKS AND BARGES (News by Cable.) RUGBY, Sept. 25. In the extensive Royal Air Force operations against the enemy last night, which included a long raid on Berlin, details of which already are known, as well as the continuation of the systematic attacks of recent nights on enemy invasion ports, only two of the aircraft employed were lost. The Frankenheei's electric power station near Frankfurt, on the Oder, more than 300 miles from Germany’s western frontier, was located half an hour before midnight and was twite attacked with sticks of high-explosive bombs, which were seent o burst in and around the tarseen to burst in and around the tarMagdeburg and the rail depot and distributing centre at Hamm were also attacked and a number of explosions on the main sidings arid sheds at Hamm were followed by a line of fires. The goods yards at Brussels were also attacked, and the Hanover aerodrome was bombed from a high level. At The Hague and to the north of Emden, where night flying by the -enemy was in progress, a British raider camo down to 2000 ft. to drop his’ bombs on the hangar and runway. A flare revealetf the wreckage of a hangar destroyed in a previous attack. Nightly Hammering While the long-distance raids on Germany were in progress other strong, forces of bombers in operations at short range kept up their nightly hammering of the enemy's invasion from Hamburg to Le Havre. Fires were'started at the Hamburg docks. Bombs straddled shipping bases at Cherbourg and at the Dutch port of Delfziji. Afc.Ostend repeated hits were scored on the basins and on the harbour jetties. The Calais docks made the target for one of the night’s heaviest bombardments. They were subjected to a series of attacks lasting nearly seven hours. Barged lying alongside the quays were hit. Fires and explosions were seen in many parts of the harbour. Before 4 o’clock this morning more than 30 fires were counted burning within the docks.

Ten Till Five O’clock At Le Havre the raids began at 10 p.m. and continued at intervals iint.'l 5 a.m. The lock gates were hit and warehouses set alight and many other fires were smarted. A violent explosion marked a direct hit on what appeared to be a harbour power station. Strong opposition from the ground defences were encountered at Boulogne. Direct hits were claimed hero on the wall of one dock and on jetties between the basins and in many parts of tho outer harbour. A particularly big cxplosfon, followed by fire, was seen to occur in the No. 7 dock. The German long-range gun positions at Cap Gris Nez were also attacked shortly before dawn, and a number of hits were registered on new emplacements under construction. Tho Berlin radio to-day stated: “The British again attempted last night the organised murder of Berb'n’s civil population. Single planes reached the inner area, bombing densely inhabited working-class districts and hospitals marked with the Red Cross, the murderous pilots carrying out Mr. Churchill s ordeis not to hit military objectives. This infamy the Luftwaffe is answering with all the means at its disposal.”