RAIDERS TAUGHT A LESSON

Evening Star, Issue 23683, 17 September 1940, Page 7

RAIDERS TAUGHT A LESSON

ATTACK^ON LONDON SLACKEN ANOTHER CHANCE IN TACTICS Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright • LONDON, September 16. '(Received September 17, at 10.10 a.m.) Air attacks on Britain were continued during the night by a succession of small groups of bombers. These attacks were directed mainly against the London area and the surrounding districts. A smaller number of raids -were also made in other parts of the country. The attacks on London were spread over a wide area. Houses, commercial premises, and other buildings were damaged, and also three hospitals. Two houses in south-west London were demolished by bombs last night, and several persons were injured. It :s feared that there were some fatalities when a heavy bomb fell on a business building in central London and considerably damaged the two top floors. It also shook a nearby hotel. Vast lumps of zinc from the ventilators on the roof of the building were blown several hundred feet into a neighbouring street. London had three short air raid alarms during the morning. The fourth, at 2.15 p.m., lasted until 6.3 p.m. The sirens sounded for the fifth at 8.15 p.m. Most Central Londoners perceived little evidence of reasons for the succession of warnings, although during the early part of the fourth one period was sparsely punctuated by the noise of bombs, anti-aircraft fire, and machine guns. Two heavy bombs and a number of incendiaries fell near the shopping centre of the London area. There were no casualties. High explosives were also dropped in another district.

A church in a south-eastern district received a direct hit last night. There ii a large crater inside the church, Tfilich was extensively damaged. NAZI ACCOUNT CMTMUATION OF 11 REPRISALS." BERLIN, September 16. (Received September 17, at 11 a.m.) A communique states: The reprisals against London continued at the weekend. Bombers attacked docks and iharbour facilities, hit the Bromley gasworks, set fire to oil dumps, and scored direct hits on stations and industrial plants- at Woolwich' and; other .parts. of Ixmdon., Bombs were dropped on harbour installations at Dover and Portland, where an oil dump was set on lire, and also on aircraft factories at Southampton and other objectives at Liverpool and Birmingham, starting numerous tires. -The British unsuccessfully attempted to raid Berlin. Several houses were destroyed and a school set on fire. Two civilians were killed and several injured in a West German town. The enemy lost 79 planes; 43 of ours are missing. Our planes sank three merchantmen, totalling 26,000 tons. LITTLE ACTIVITY DURING DAY SLIGHT DAMAGE AND FEW CASUALTIES (British Official Wirelesa.) RUGBY, September 16. (Received September 17, at 10.50 a.m.) Details of last night’s enemy raid on London form the substance of an Air Ministry and Home Security communique, in which details of to-day s air activities are also included. The communique states that the reports so far received show the number of casualties in last night’s attacks on London to be little greater than on recent nights, but much less than in the first attacks on the capital. Outside London the casualties were very few, but some were fatal. It is now known that two enemy lumbers were shot down by our fighters during the night. This includes the one already announced. There has been little enemy activity during the day. About 8 a.m. to-day n force of enemy aircraft crossed the coast without encountering our fighters. Later in the day enemy aircraft, singly or in small numbers, crossed the coast at several points. A few bombs were dropped at various parts of the country, but the damage reported is slight and the number of casualties very small. COASTAL AERODROMES STILL IN USE GERMAN EFFORT TO DISLODGE R.A.F. A FAILURE (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 16. ’(Received September 17, at 12.45 p.m.) London’s fifth alert was still in force at midnight. The Sunday triumph of the R.A.F. demonstrated very definitely the failure of the great effort by the German air force to drive R.A.F. fighters from their bases in the south-eastern coastal areas. Not one of these bases has had to he abandoned permanently, although some have suffered severe damage from time to time. The number of German machines brought down day after day over southeastern coastal districts is sufficient evidence of the efficiency of the R.A.F.’s bases in that area,