SHELLS FROM FRANCE?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 191, 15 August 1940, Page 5

SHELLS FROM FRANCE?

EXPLOSIONS IN SOUTHEAST ENGLAND GERMAN LONG-RANGE GUNS REPORTED [By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright} LONDON, Aug. 13. A mysterious incident for which there is no official confirmation occurred on the south-east coast yesterday where, after an explosion damaging several houses, a piece of metal resembling part of the nose-cap of a shell was picked up. The authorities are examining heavy fragments of grooved steel picked up in a south-east area. Two were killed and some injured in one explosion. People attributed the explosion to gunfire in the district, or alternatively to shelling from long-range German batteries across the Channel. It is learned that some damage was done in other parts. One explosion tore through the upper storey of two houses, levelling the rooftops. Another house had the front exposed as though cut with a knife.

Residents think the damage was caused by shellfire because no aeroplanes were overhead when four explosions occurred. The Associated Press Berne (Swiss) correspondent says that reports are current that 40-mile guns round Calais and Dunkirk have already opened fire, laying a barrage behind Dover. A report was also received from New York that the Germans were shelling Britain from Franbe.