MANY DRIVEN BACK

Opotiki News, Volume III, Issue 324, 22 October 1940, Page 3

MANY DRIVEN BACK

NAZI AIR RAIDERS BIDS FOR LONDON AREA TERRIFIC DOGFIGHTS BOMBING OF HOSPITALS FURTHER FATALITIES (News by Cable.) LONDON, Oct. 20. London had five alerts during the day. Two bombs in the morning damaged . buildings in a London thoroughfare. Hundreds of people taking a Sunday morning saunter heard bombs whistling down. One struck a public house. The blast damaged a garage and cars on the opposite side of the road.

A big force of raiders came over the Kent coast at a great height in the morning. They found the Royal Air Force ready and many were forced back.

A-yeUow-nosed Messerschmitt was shot down in a London street during the afternoon air battle. There were terrific dogfights during the Germans’ five ineffectual attempts to reach London in mass.

A bomb wrecked a number oi houses in the Thames Estuary area, whei’e an A.li.P. warden was-killed. Several people were fatally- injured in Liverpool and the Merseyside area last night during the district’s longest recent raid. Four relatives were killed in one house. Bombs Wreck Six Houses The German air attack against London last night was intensified. A heavy bomb on the outskirts of London wrecked six houses. The occupants were sheltering. Half a dozen bombs fell in quick succession in another area, without causing any casualties, but a family of seven were killed when a bomb directly hit an Anderdon shelter. Another explosive bomb brought down the whole front of a block of flats in a London district. Three persons standing in a doorway were killed. Three were rescued from under the debris.

A block of a hospital in a London area was considerably damaged. A public shelter was demolished. Some persons were killed and others injured. Bombs damaged the medical college of another hospital. Killed in Public House Several customers entering and leaving a public house were killed when an explosive bomb fell on the pavement. Another bomb damaged a boxing arena and demolished a three-storey house and damaged others in a narrow street which was recently visited by the King and Queen. Seven persons sheltering in a reinforced basement nearby were trapped until dug out. The raiders dropped incendiary bombs while firemen were fighting a big blaze. Rescue squads worked throughout the night' extricating casualties from an underground public shelter. It is feared that some of the occupants were killed.

Seventy high-explosive bombs fell in a Midland town during the night.

A German communique says- “ Strong air formations attacked London and dropped large quantities of bombs and caused numerous fires. Military targets were also attacked in the south of England and the Midlands. There were no enemy attacks on Germany.”

A further Berlin news- agency message says that an encampment oi troops near London was bombed today. “Four Hurricanes were shot down,” adds the Berlin agency. “There were no German losses.’