SPITFIRE SWEEP

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 171, 22 July 1942, Page 5

SPITFIRE SWEEP

TARGETS IN FRANCE

Engines, Troops And Defence

Posts Shot Up

United Press Association.—Copyright. Rec. 2 p.m. LONDON, July 2

The Air Ministry news service reports that only one Spitfire was lost yesterday out of nearly 200, which made mass attacks from low levels on targets in North France. It was brought down by obstruction from three Spitfires, which met considerable flak, but were undamaged. They machine-gunned two goods engines, set two wagons on fire, and attacked warehouses, a radio station and a transformer station. They also machine-gunned a house occupied by troops, and soldiers on an aerodrome near Saint Valery. The water tower, gun posts, shelters and huts were also attacked. A factory was bombed in the Dieppe area and a building hidden in a wood was set on fire.

The Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm newspaper Svenska Dagbladet says Goering has issued a decree providing for the establishment of special A.R.P. units, "made necessary by the frequent Royal Air Force attacks." Foreign labourers and war prisoners are forced to enrol. This is the first time the German authorities have mentioned R.A.F. attacks.