COUNTER TO NAZI INVASION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 14 September 1940, Page 9

COUNTER TO NAZI INVASION.

RAIL LINKS HIT.

Vital Junctions And Yards Heavily Bombed. British OBeial Wireless. (Reed, noon.) RUGBY, Sept. 13. In spite of adverse weather described succinctly by the pilots themselves as "generally foul," Royal Air Force bombers on Thursday night continued to harry German invasion plans. They struek in particular at the network of vital railway junctions and goods yards in western Germany.

A communique issued this evening shows that aircraft of both the Coastal and Bomber Commands were engaged in the night's operations from which all returned safelj.

The Air Ministry news service points out that these junction* and goods yards, which include some of the largest and most elaborate in Europe, must play an important part in any attempted invasion of Britain. Troops, reserves, equipment and supplies moving westwards to Channel ports from Germany must pass through one or the other of these key transport centres.

I It was before 10 o'clock that, in thick cloud and drizzling rain, the first raider dropped heavy bombs and incendiary bombs at the Ha mm yard. At the Ehsang yards, near the Luxembourg frontier, north of Trier, heavy bombs burst along a line of trucks, causing several explosions and fires, which burned with a vivid glare.

At Osnabruck, too, bombers flew through dense cloud. One scraped a balloon cable with his wing tip. Attacking from various heights, raiders started 10 large fires in the yards. Anti-Air craft Barrage Facad. Some of the aircraft which attacked the Essen yards were badly iced up. Heavy bombs were dropped on the railway sidings. The Schwerte marshalling yards were also attacked in the face of an intense barrage from light anti-air-craft batteries. Another raider bombed the sidings at Emmerich, on the Rhine, near tlic Dutch border.

The Germans recently have been routing much of their military traffic through the Brussels yards. These hare been attacked several times by the Royal Air Force in the past week. They were bombed again last night, and after bursts were seen on the target, a Dshaped fire three-quarters of a inile long was seen on the north side of the yard. There were a series of green-coloured explosions, and then another fire 200 yards long was seen in the middle of tlic siding.

Meanwhile, another section of raiders visited Emden and bombed the docks and petroleum sheds on the west side of Altehinnen Hafen. The attack went on for an hour.

Squadron* operating over Holland. bouiWd dock# at Flushing and Detfzijl, at the mouth of the E:u*. opposite Emden. and the Xordernev seaplane ba.se and base at de Koov, near Den Holder. The first raider to reach Flushing found a semi-circle of anti-aircraft ships round the harbour entrance.

They immediately opened an intense barrage. Light and heavy shore batteries joined in. Tracer bullets flared part the bomber*, and high angle niacliinu-gutto added their quota. Through this barrage one of Use raiders flew at 000 feet. .

A German oil tanker was bombed by Blenheims uf the Coastal Command near Le Havre, and a supply ship «*» also hit.