TERROR TACTICS

Evening Star, Issue 23682, 16 September 1940, Page 5

TERROR TACTICS

BLIND FURY OF NAZIS ONLY STRENGTHENS PUBLIC RESOLUTION HAVOC IN HUMBLE HOMES (British Official Wireless.) Association—By Telegraph—Copyright RUGBY, September 14. The indiscriminate nature of the enemy’s night bombing is fully realised only by those who have toured London and its suburbs and outskirts. Historical monuments, ancient churches, and hospitals have suffered heavily in blind bombing. Many stately houses and other buildings have been struck down, but it is among humble homes in mean streets of congested suburbs that evidence of the Nazi fury is most visible. Pathetic tales are told by the piles of wreckage to which many houses which were the pride of the occupants a few days ago are now reduced. German mendacity in their efforts to justify the slaughter of civilians and the destruction of private property is well illustrated in the enemy’s account of the raid on Buckingham Palace. The official German report declares that several German bombers attacked London, including oil tanks close to Buckingham Palace. Needless to say, no oil tanks are within many miles of the palace. HIGH MORALE. A remarkable feature of the public attitude towards the repeated attacks is that at the end of a week of intensive bombing, so far from there being any weakening of the will to defy the menace, public resolution is strengthened. There is evident a quickening adaptation to the conditions of air warfare. A clearer and more reassuring calculation of the chances has been induced, as well as a better understanding concerning how best to escape the danger. Discipline and steadiness of nerve are displayed by the public, blunting the edge of what hitherto was the enemy’s most successful weapon—frightfuluess. LONDON IN THE FRONT LINE. “ London is in the front line, steadily improving its defences and adjusting its life accordingly. The object of all individual actions and all regulations,” counsels ‘ The Times,’ “ must be to see that activities remain as normal as possible, and thus deprive the enemy of the satisfaction of lowering output, retarding communications, or interfering with wonk of any essential kind. The front lines must be held, supplied, organised, and repaired under fire, and both official rules and private actions must be governed by this principle.” FIERCE AIR BATTLE. Never before have there been so many British fighters over London as this afternoon, when thousands of people saw largo formations race in from two directions to engage heavy concentrations of German bombers and fighters. The British fighters had spent an hour patrolling the areas through which the Germans Were attempting\to break throughout the day. They turned back 100 planes during the first desperate attempt in the afternoon to reach London from the south coast, the raiders being scattered without dropping their bombs. Two hundred Germans in the second afternoon raid were engaged in the fiercest battle. Bombs fell in a south-east coastal town, hitting a cinema and killing four children and two adults and injuring others. An air raid warden and a first aid worker were also killed. Some of the enemy planes which penetrated the London area were hotly chased by Spitfires. The Germans dropped bombs at random, damaging houses and a children’s hospital and partly wrecking a maternity hospital, in which no casualties occurred. Other raiders concentrated on testing the defences over widespread areas of England and Wales, particularly on the south-east coast. A pavilion in north-west England, where children were- holding a party, was hit. A dive bomber demolished the pavilion and. caused casualties. A wedding was interrupted in a south-west town when a whistling bomb fell outside the church. The ceremony was completed amid falling bombs, which caused the church to shake and broke windows. ..The couple left to find the bridal car buried under the debris. One person was killed and several were injured nearby. GERMAN BOMBER CRASHES. Circumstances in which a German bomber burst into flames and crashed during the night raid are described in an Air Ministry bulletin. A British fighter was flying over London by moonlight when the pilot saw searchlights concentrating on a point several miles north. A Heinkel 111 was held in their beams. For 20 minutes the fighter pilot chased the enemy. Though some of the searchlights had lost the enemy three or four still held him. When the fighter opened fire the Heinkel droppd bombs to lighten his load. At tfie same time bullets from the Heinkel’s rear guns hit the fighter’s windscreen and wing, but the fighter’s bullets had struck home and the Heinkel dropped flaming out of the sky. Following it down, the fighter pilot saw the explosion when it crashed. INEFFECTUAL RAIDS. Activities in the air over Britain during Saturday, which were on a small scale and intermittent, but widely distributed and almost entirely terroristic in character, were described in a long communique issued shortly before midnight by the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Home Security. It stated; “ Throughout this morning ineffectual enemy aircraft kept up a series of attacks, during one of which bombs

were dropped in a London area. The other morning attacks were in southeast England and East Anglia. In one south coast town a hospital was hit and several houses and buildings were damaged. Casualties, both in London and elsewhere, were very slight. SEASIDE RESORTS ATTACKED. ''ln the early afternoon another enemy attack penetrated to the London i area and bombs were dropped in south-1 west London, but very little damage was done. During this period several south coast towns were subjected to-ran-dom bombing by tho enemy. The damage and casualties were slight, excepting in two of these towns, Brighton and Eastbourne. At Brighton several people ! were killed and a number injured. At Eastbourno considerable damage was done to houses. There was a small number of fatal casualties, and several persons were injured. CHURCH DEMOLISHED. One of the enemy attacks in the afternoon demolished a church and several houses in Ipswich. The casualties, however, were very slight. High explosive bombs were dropped in a town in north-west England, and severe damage wae done in and near industrial buildings. Details of the results of this attack are not yet available, but it is feared that a number of casualties resulted. Two further attacks were made in th© London area during the evening. In the first of these a church in a southwest area was hit, and there were some casualties. Indications are that no extensive damage has been caused in London to-day, and that the number of casualties has not been heavy." GERMAN VERSION. The Official Spokesman in Berlin said that about 2,000 tons of bombs were dropped on London during tho week. " The Luftwaffe can be well satisfied with the results," he said. *' London must now choose the fate of Warsaw or Paris. The weather, once England's ally, has become her enemy. " It is conservatively estimated that 24 big London dock installations were burned to the ground last week. Despite denials, foodstuffs are running short, and the so-called voluntary evacuation is steadily growing, straining the transport system, which is already disorganised. London's armament industry if reduced to a fraction of its former output. Docks, including the Canada dock and an area westward of the East India docks, were heavily bombed last night. The pilots all agreed that there had been a reorganisation of London's aircraft defences, but the restriction of the searchlights helped them." ' The Times' correspondent on the German frontier reports that the German newspapers announce that 5,500 people have been killed in'the London raids. They proclaim that the responsibility rests with Mr Churchill. It is also officially claimed that oil and petrol tanks 'were bombed near Buckingham Palace, as well as the Cunliffo Owen aircraft factory at Southampton, where production would be held up for a few months, and a nearby aeronautical research factory specialising in long-range bombers. BRITISH CHARACTERISTICS

EMPHASISED BY GREAT ORDEAL (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 15. (Received September 16, at 10.10 a.m.) The Battle for London as an incident—but a supreme incident —in the preliminaries of the Battle for Britain, is the subject of Sunday newspaper editorials. The ‘ Sunday Times ’ writes: “ Ever since France went out of the war and the British Empire was left to wage it alone, two things have been evident to thinking men. Firstly, that Britain can win; secondly, that on the way to victory she must face and surmount a supreme ordeal. After months of waiting the ordeal is now on her. Beyond it lies victory if she holds fast.” The paper adds that over the many harrowing scenes witnessed in the past week has risen the bravery of the common English folk, refusing to be conquered and blossoming under trial into flower of self-sacrifice and mutual aid, such as only a very great people indeed could compass, Mr J. L. Garvin, in the ‘ Observer,’ says he is quite confident that there will be no flinching at paying the unavoidable price of success and salvation. Three-quarters of the huge region coveted by London and its suburbs shows no serious trace of the enemy, and only a minute percentage of its millions of inhabitants has been struck. It would take more than the Nazis possess or conceive to wreck this wonderful city, much less daunt its soul.

BERLIN'S REPORT BERLIN, September 15. (Received September 16, at 11.55 a.m.) A communique states: Yesterday and last night we continued our revenge attacks against important military targets in the midlands and southern England, especially London where docks and harbour equipment were Hit. We bombed harbour equipment at Liverpool, a factory at Warrington, and several s6uthern aerodromes. Our planes sank an 8,000-ton merchantman. The enemy dropped bombs on several points in Belgium, Holland, and western Germany, hitting a troop encampment, where seven were killed and 16 wounded. The enemy yesterday lost 30 planes. Five of ours are missing. The Berlin radio announced in the afternoon that a number of German planes are known to have reached London and dropped many bombs. The West India docks were again the objective. Fires were started.

OVER FOUR THOUSAND ENEMY'S LOSSES IN PLANES HEAVY TOLL IN RECENT WEEKS Press Association—By Telegrapli-rCopyrigkt LONDON, September 10. A week's " blitzbombing " cost the Germans to midnight on Friday 263 planes, many of which were bombers with multiple crews. Britain lost 62 defending fighters, bat many of ,the pilots and gunners were saved. Including the British raiders lost over Germany and German-occupied territories, our losses have been only 92 per week. The Germans since the war began have lost 4,105 planes, the British 1,244, and the Italians 186. To these Air Ministry figures, which cover only planes definitely destroyed, must be added the Admiralty announcement of the destruction of at least 153 German and Italian planes.

FIVE BELOW RECORD DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY PLANES 175 BROUGHT DOWN YESTERDAY LONDON, September 15. (Received September 16, at 11 a.m.) The Air Ministry announces that '175 enemy planes were shot down to-day. Thirty of*our fighters were lost, but 10 of the pilots are safe. [The R.A.F. established the existing record of 180 Nazi planes brought down in one day on August 15.]

POLISH BOMBER CREWS IN ACTION OVER FRANCE (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 15. (Received September 16, at 11.40 a.m.) The Commander-in-Chief of the Bomber Command, Air Marshal Sir C. F. S. Portal, to-day sent the following message to the O.C. Bomber Station, where the Polish squadrons are based, which took part in last night's air raid on Boulogne: "Hearty congratulations to your Polish crews on the successful completion of their first operation last night." Last night's successful attack on Boulogne, in which the Polish bomber squadrons co-operated with R.A.F. units, was the first raid against the enemy to be carried out by Polish bomber crews operating from Britain. The two squadrons from which the crews were drawn were formed only three weeks ago. The pilots who took part in last night's raid are between 26 and 28 years of age, and, like the members of their crews, have all had previous fighting experience in the Polish air force. Describing their raid on Boulogne, an observer in one Polish bomber said: " Searchlight and anti-aircraft opposition was every bit as bad as we had been led to expect, but these aircraft of yours are good, and we were able to evade most of it. We saw our bombs striking the harbour works and bursting on the basins, and we came home very much happier than we have been for a long time."

AERIAL OFFENSIVE ITALIAN BASES ATTACKED (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 15. (Received September 16, at 10.10 a.m.) A R.A.F. communique issued in Cairo states .that a 579 aircraft was shot down by one of our fighters over the Mediterranean on September 11. On September 12 aircraft of the South African Air Force raided aerodromes in Central Abyssinia. At Gimma there was a direct hit on a hangar and tires broke out among the buildings, one Caproni aircraft being destroyed and another extensively damaged. At Sciascimanna the headquarters building was hit, one Savoia aircraft destroyed and three others damagedl A motor transport convoy was machine-gunned. From these operations one of our aircraft failed to return. 11. A. F. bombers raided Somaliland and Eritrea on September 13. At Berbera bombs fell on the European quarter, and at Assab there was a direct hit on the harbour jetty. Gura and Asmara aerodromes were attacked and buildings set on fire. Enemy lighters attempted to intercept our planes without success. Another fire was started at Massawa. RAN INTO MINEFIELD

CONVOY OF FRENCH MERCHANTMEN TWO SHIPS REPORTED SUNK I BERLIN, September 15. (Received September 16, at 1 p.m.) A news agency stated that a convoy of 1.0 French merchantmen en route from North Africa to Marseilles carrying demobilised soldiers ran into a minefield. Two ships were sunk, but the majority of the crews and soldiers were rescued.