HEAVILY BOMBED

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21259, 1 November 1940, Page 8

HEAVILY BOMBED

RAIDS ON CONTINENT NAVAL BASE ATTACKED DAMAGE TO DOCKS (Ofllclal Wireless) (Received Nov. 1. 3.15 p.m.) r RUGBY. Oct. 31 Royal Air Force operations were restricted last night owing to bad weather, but the docks at Hamburg and Flushing were heavily bombed and the naval base at Emden was attacked. The Cherbourg harbour was attacked during the daylight operations yesterday. Dockside buildings were hit and a heavy salvo was dropped among four E-boats which were cruising twenty miles out at sea. One enemy aircraft was destroyed. One of our aircraft is missing. British Bomb Ostend A small force of Blenheims last night attacked targets at Ostend. The harbour, which previously had been attacked but since had been repaired, was easy of indentification. enabling the bombers to score direct hits freely on quays a-nd shipping berths. Every second bomb burst was followed by heavy explosions and debris was thrown high into the air. Explosives and Big Fires Details of the Royal Air Force attacks last night on the invasion ports and German territory show that many tons of high explosives and incendiaries were dropped on the German occupied ports of Flushing and Antwerp and on Emden. The attack on Flushing began early in the evening and lasted just over an hour. Several sticks of bombs were dropped on the Walchem Canal and on the inner and outer harbours, though a cloud haze made it difficult to see the fall results of the bombtag. An Air Ministry bulletin containing this information also states that at Emden bursts were observed on the quay of the main waterway and east of the main entrance. One very bright fire was started and other fires in the area were seen to spread rapidly. One aircraft attacked a nearby railway junction and here again a large fire occurred. RAIDS ON BRITAIN LITTLE ENEMY ACTIVITY VERY FEW CASUALTIES (Omcial Wireless? (Received Nov 1. 3.15 p.m.) RUGBY. Oct. 31 There was little sir activity over Britain up to inid-day, after which the enemy made a number of attacks by isolated aircraft on various parts of the country, states a communique. Bombs were dropped on two towns in the eastern counties and points in South Wales and t.he Midlands. There were few casualties and only slight damage. Calmness of Londoners London's nightly "Alert” signal sounded somewhat earlier than on the last few nights, and Londoners settled down to the usual nocturnal concert of bomb and barrage. So much has this habit grown in the metropolis that some uneasiness seem;d to be felt when the ’’Raiders Passed” sounded also earlier than usual. The barrage had been heard and the noise of a few German machines, apparently flying very high, and a small number of bombs was dropped in scattered districts, but the early attack died down and the night was stifl. All the regular transport services of the tubes, omnibuses and trams were resumed in a normal manner. The surprising Londoners’ attitude, which Germans will never understand, is shown by a typical Cockney comment that they had taken some time in getting accustomed to the regular nightly air visitations, and Juftt because the Germans were absent for some part of the evening they were not suddenly go>ig to change the whole of their new life to suit Hitler’s convenience. Churches Bombed A lone raider this morning dived out of the clouds and bombed a south-east town, demolishing several shops and damaging others. There were several casualties, some fatal. Among the place s : recently bombed in London are St. Boniface’s Church in Leicester Scmare and the Dutch Church of Austin Friars, nart of whirh dates from the year 1250. and St. Bartholomew’s Medical School. In Stationer's Hall ceiling a representation of St. John the Evangelist, which was considered a showpiece, was damaged. A high explosive crashed on a stand at Wimbledon, and flung the debris on the centre court. Damage in Leicester Square Damage to Leicester Square was caused by a very heavy high-explos-ive bomb, which fell at the southwest comer. A photographic studio and Thurston’s billiards hall were totally wrecked. A blast hacked off the head of a statuette in the centre of the Sciuare, also the hand of a statue of Shakespeare. The Leicester Square cinema and adiacent shoos were badlv damaged and an exhibition of billiards antiamties in Thurston’s Hall was destroyed. including the gilt inlaid tabic which Napoleon 111 presented to Alexander II of Russia in 1855. Six unoccupied taxis were set on Are and others destroyed. Claims by Nazis A German communinue claims that the air force damaged an aeroplane factor** near Sheffield and bombed a military camp. British motor torpedo-boats approached the Flemish coast but the naval artillery force*! them to retire. “Ton flood To Be True’’ Londoners were astonished when the “All Clear” was given several

hours before midnight, the earliest for several weeks. The feeling voiced during the day that the stormy weather was likely to keep the enemy away tonight was thus justified. Some people had already taken up positions in the shelters and refused to disturb themselves. but London streets, which had so long been deserted from dusk to dawn, assumed an almost pre-blitz appearance as the buses which normally pull up beside the footpaths felt their way through the murk and taxis defied the darkness dashing to their destination. The general feeling was that it was too good to be true. Very Heavy Groundfire Planes were overhead frequently early in the London night raid, and met with heavy groundfire, which was considered the heaviest of the war, there being hardly a pause in the gunfire for the first hour and a half. The Germans arrived in waves, using fast fighter-bombers. Some fires were started, but were quickly controlled. Bombs also fell in rural areas and a north-east Scottish town. A bomber believed to be Italian dived from the clouds and released bombs on an East Anglian town this and damaging buildings. Two planes dropped several high explosives in a. Midlands town. TLicrc were a few casualties. A raider machine-gunned an East Scottish lighthouse. Single raiders attacked other districts in Britain, raking the streets with machine-guns. One bomber unloaded from hundred feet over a southern town killing four ppople and demolishing several shops.