ISOLATED PLANES

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 85, 7 October 1940, Page 7

ISOLATED PLANES

LITTLE DAMAGE CAUSED

CASUALTIES SMALL

VIOLENT ANTI-AIRCRAFT

BARRAGE

LONDON. October 6

Enemy aircraft, flying singly or in small formations, made attacks today on a number of places in south-east England and in the London area, states an Air Ministry communique. A few bombs were dropped in the east Midlands and in East.Anglia. High-explosive bombs demolished some bouses in Folkestone and a town in Northamptonshire, causing a small number of casualties, some of them fatal. In several other places enemy aircraft dived from the clouds, fired short bursts of machine-gun fire, and quickly made off. A few persons were injured as a i-esult of these attacks. Elsewhere, although bombs fell in a number of widely separated places, little damage was caused*and the number of casualties was small. The communique adds that weather j conditions made interception by our fighters difficult, but reports so far ve-j ceived say that two enemy bombers have been shot down. Agency reports say that one of the machine-gun attacks was made on people in a south coast town. A single raider fired several bursts, but in this case there were no casualties. One German bomber came down on the north-western outskirts of London It dropped some bombs without doing damage of any importance, and then was seen diving out of the clouds with a Spitfire on its tail.

Another raider dropped bombs on marshland in the Thames Estuary, and this afternoon a high-explosive bomb was dropped in central London ana some damage was done to house property

In spite of the bad weather, British fighters have been in action over a wide area, proving the truth of what an American broadcaster said tonight He is the London representative of the Columbia Broadcasting Company, and he remarked: "The daylight sky j over London still belongs to the R.A.F Much brick and mortar have been blown apart during the night raids and transport has been interrupted, but London is still a going concern." A NOISY NIGHT. People in London seem agreed that the barrage of anti-aircraft fire over the city last night was the second heaviest, if not the heaviest, yet More guns were in action and probably more types of guns. For at least two hours after the first night "alert" there was hardly five minutes of quietness. There were lulls later in the night, but after each the guns burst out again as fiercely as before.

The night raids were directed against London and the south-east of England. Attacks on other parts of the country were small and brief.

The Air. Ministry says that houses and commercial and industrial premises in London mid some surrounding districts were damaged and fires were started. Most of the fires were soon put out, and the rest were under control by the early hours. One part of London which was hit is a popular shopping and residential district which now bears the scars of several visits. People there say they have had a bomb nearly every night. The Home Counties had a few bombs during the night and houses and other buildings were wrecked or damaged,, but again, as elsewhere, the casualties were few. One bomber was destroyed during the night.

(Received October 7, 1.10 p.m.)

LONDON, October 6,

Tip-and-run raiders, taking advantage of low cloud, were active eariy today. Several crossed the coast and headed for London but were turned back by anti-aircraft fire before they reached the centre 6i' the city. Bombs are reported to have been dropped in south-western and south-eastern districts.

A few minutes before the first "alert' in the London area this morning British fighters intercepted enemy planes over a north-western area. Single raiders were over the outskirts of London again this afternoon. When a salvo of seven bombs was dropped in east London early this morning one struck the tunnel of a public shelter in which many people had been sheltering all night and killed three women and two men.

The Air Ministry news service says that a Canadian Air Force squadron and also Poles participated in yesterday's air battles over Kent. One Polish squadron destroyed eight Messerschmitts.