FIRES STARTED

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21336, 6 February 1941, Page 7

FIRES STARTED

RAIDS ON BREST i I NAVAL BASE ATTACKED i . THRILLS FOR PILOTS (Official Wireless (Received Feb. 6. 11 a.m.) RUGBY. Feb. 5 One of the most persistent of last night’s Bomber Command raids was on the naval base at Brest between eight and ten o’clock. The weather over Brest was favourable and the whole plan of the . clocks and the outline of the jetties i were clearly visible from the air. 1 At the height of this attack a fire ! was seen to break out on the docks and was vividly described by one of the many pilots who reported it. The fire appeared to be the result of burning oil. “As we were vertically over the dock,” the pilot said, “ there was an explosion that almost blinded us. At first I thought a flare had gone off inside the aircraft. Then I thought we had been hit and the aircraft was on fire. Looking down, we saw an area about 150 yards long on fire, with the flames shooting up to 200 feet. “ The fire was just beside the water's edge. We cruised around ancl watched it grow. The black smoke poured up and rose higher than our aircraft, about 9000 feet.” Other Towns Bombed An Air Ministry communique states: The Royal Air Force resumed attacks on the enemy last night over a wide area and on a scale larger | than for the last fortnight. Clouds prevented full observation, but the results were satisfactory. Bombers attacked Dusseldorf, where fires were seen to break out. A train in the neighbourhood was also hit and burst into flames. High explosives fell on two nearby railway junctions. Another force bombed Dunkirk, Dieppe and Ostend, where the docks were hit. Aerodromes at Vannes and other places in occupied France, also the docks at Bordeaux, were successfully attacked. Coastal Command aircraft visited Cherbourg twice and the docks and repair yards were straddled with high explosives. Four of our aircraft are missing. RAID ON GERMANY INDUSTRIAL TARGETS HIT NAVAL BASES BOMBED (United Press Assn.—Eire. I>l. CopyriarJil) LONDON, Feb. 5 The heaviest raid on Germany for a fortnight was made last night by the Royal Air Force. Industrial targets in Western Germany, naval bases and invasion ports were bombed.

German raiders visited the eastern parts of Britain and the east Midlands last night. The attacks, however, were not on a large scale. The damage, including that at London, where some fire bombs were dropped, was not large.

AIRMEN’S EXPLOIT LUXURY PLANE SEIZED “FED UP” WITH NAZIS (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Feb. 5 A young French air mechanic, desirous of joining the Royal Air Force, seized a seven-passenger luxury cabin areoplane at an airfield in occupied France. He flew to England and landed in a bumpy field on a farm in Cornwall. The Frenchman said he was “fed up” with living under German rule.