NAZI BOMBING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 228, 25 September 1940, Page 3

NAZI BOMBING.

THE HUMOROUS SIDE.

NUDE OFFICER JUMPED ON

NEW PLYMOUTH, this clay. Bombing near an encampment of Xcw Zealand forces in England had its humorous side. The spectacle of a naked officer, covered in soapsuds, running for a shelter trench, only to be jumped on by an army-booted private, is described by Corporal Howard Frost in a letter to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. V, H. Frost, Eltham. "We had two air raid alarms one day last week,' , writes Corporal Frost. "The first one we ignored as we could not hear any planes overhead, and by the time the 'all clear' was sounded, about an hour later, we luul forgotten all about it. The second one sounded just as we were going into mess, and even when we heard the roar of many aircraft we took no notice, thinking that they were our own. We started tea, but one chap suddenly spotted a large number of planes approaching ami he called everybody out to have a look. We all streamed out and gazed skywards. "Suddenly we saw a number of small objects fall from the planes and come whistling down to strike the ground and explode with a terrific roar. And at the same time there came the rattle of macliiiHMgun fire and bullets thudded into tin , ground all around us.

Wild Rush to Trenches. "Well, I have never seen such a scatter! There was a wild rush to the trenches, and the chaps just dived in head first. In some of the trenches were several inches of water; others were muddy. One of our Taranaki boys flung himself down between two heaps of coal. When we all emerged later we found him black from head to foot, the result of trying to bury himself in the coal. He now rejoices in the name of 'The Coalman.' "Another very funny sight was that of our adjutant. Captain . He was having a shower and had just reached the stage where he was soap from head to foot, when he heard the bombers coming. He ran outside and gazed skyward*. When the bombs started to drop he, too, streaked for the shelters, tumbled in, and flattened himself on the bottom to be. followed a few seconds later by one of the boys, who, v, <t being aware of the unlucky adjutant's presence in the trench, took a flying leap, and landed feet first (clad in army boots) on top of him. The air was blue for many yards around. "Fortunately, there were no casualties and no damage was done, owing to the usual bad marksmanship of the 'Jerry' pilots. But we all had a good laugh out of it afterwards.

Crashing Aircraft. '"We have not yet made up our minds which is the more dangerous—the boml>s dropped by German raiders or the machines that come crashing down out of the sky. shot to pieces fiy our gallant Royal Air Force and anti-air-craft gunners," adds Corporal Frost. "'The countryside appears to be absolutely littered in places with bulletriddled Nazi 'planes, and it is wonderful how our boys are shooting them down. "There is no need for me to toll you what a terrific price Hitler is paying in both men and machines in bis attempts to bomb this country. Although some of the figures given may sound ridiculous, such as tlie proportion of German losses to ours, I can assure you that they are a little on the conservative side if anything. Because our lighters are definitely far superior to the Nazi machines, the Germans lose about five planes to one of ours; before long they will be losing ten to our one."