TARGETS IN GERMANY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 190, 14 August 1940, Page 5

TARGETS IN GERMANY

OIL PLANTS BOMBED BIG FIRES STARTED BY EXPLOSIONS [ British Official Wireless, j RUGBY, Aug. 12. An Air Ministry communique states that high level bombing of enemy aerodromes was carried out. throughout yesterday. Enemy - occupied airfields in Dinard and Caen were attacked and the seaplane slipway in Brest damaged. Guernsey airport was bombed for the third time. Coastal Command planes while on reconnaissance off the French coast shot down an enemy fighter into the sea. Oil was again the main objective of R.A.F. bombers last night. The synthetic oil plant in Dortmund blew up with a violent explosion and the plant in Castroprauxel was set on fire. The plants in Gelsenkirchen and Wanneeickel w ere also heavily bombed. Other aircraft attacked the oil depot in Cherbourg where tanks were set on lire. Military objectives in Dusseldorf, Wanneeickel, Hattenigen, and Dortmund were also attacked and Hamm and Soest received their usual visit. Enemy aerodromes were also bombed. Three British aircraft were lost in all these operations. A German plane moving along a flare path or. an aerodrome near Cherbourg was bombed last night by a Blenheim of the Coastal Command. The Blenheim pilot saw many lights moving quickly along the flare path as he came in to attack. His bombs burst very close to them. Others of his squadron attacked oil tanks in Cherbourg, starting big fires. As they flew away gunners and observers could see flames rising, punctuated by violent upheavals as other tanks caught fire. Another flight of Coastal Command Blenheims set out during the night to attack a German oil depot on the Dutch coast. The weather was bad and only one plane was able to find the target. The pilot dropped all his bombs on the target area.