DAY AND NIGHT

Evening Star, Issue 23687, 21 September 1940, Page 11

DAY AND NIGHT

ENEMY AIR RAIDS CONTINUE HOTLY ENGAGED BY BRITISH FIGHTERS MORS BOMBS ON LONDON SUBURBS (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 20. (Received September 21, at 11 a.m.) The Air Ministry at 8.46 p.m. stated : Reports so far received show that four enemy aircraft were shot down in today’s fighting over Britain. Seven R.A.F. fighters were lost, but the pilots of three are safe. A communique issued jointly by the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Home Security states: “ This morning a force of enemy aircraft crossed the Kent coast. The enemy did not penetrate the London area beyond the eastern and south-eastern outskirts, where a few bombs were dropped. Little damage was done, and there was only one slight casualty. Several bombs were also dropped on Brighton in the morning. Damage was done to houses, and there were a number of casualties, some fatal. The enemy formations were, engaged by R.A.F. fighters, but cloud conditions made interception difficult. The Air Ministry states that in Thursday’s actions five enemy bombers were shot down. No R.A.F. fighters were lost. BATTLE DRIFTS OVER CHANNEL. Although the alert warning was sounded in the London area during the forenoon, raiders which had been reported -crossing the south-east coast were driven back before reaching the outskirts of London. Press reports state that the protecting screen of German fighters flew below high-flying enemy bombers of the first wave of about 30 aircraft, which is reported to have broken formation after crossing the Channel, changing direction to avoid the fierce anti-air-craft fire. It proceeded inland, hotly engaged by British fighters. Most of the fighting took place above fastmoving clouds and lasted some 75 minutes, when the battle drifted over the Channel. Watchers state that three enemy aircraft were seep to crash into the sea. A Junkers 88, after being hit by anti-aircraft fire in last night’s raid on London, burst into flames and fell, demolishing a house in Merton Park, a western suburb, whose occupants were in a shelter and were only slightly injured. One of the airmen who baled out was captured, three miles away. Another night raiding Junker fell near Cambridge- after being engaged by fighters, and a third is reported down in Essex—the victim of anti-aircraft fire. PUBLIC SHELTER HIT. London advises that the censorship now does not permit the issue of reports of raid warnings and all clear signals. An Air Ministry communique says enemy activity last night was on a smaller scale and less effective. f The attacks were again directed mainly on London andl its surburbs. A bomb struck an escape hatch in a public shelter in North London. Some of those taking refuge were killed and injured. Houses and industrial buildings elsewhere were hit. High explosive bombs damaged the East End and set fire to a factory. There were some fatalities in this district. Bombs fell in Lancashire, Essex, Surrey, Berkshire, and Kent, and also the Midlands and south-west. Incendiary bombs set fire to a hospital in Essex. Two cottages in a Berkshire village were demolished, and a few people killed and injured. TWELVE BROUGHT DOWN. The gale has dropped in Dover Straits and the sea is calmer, France being easily visible. Two hundred German planes were chased back across the Channel to-day, with 12 reported shot down. Strong forces of German bombers and fighters crossed the Kent coast, heading for London. A few reached the capital. hut the attack was broken within an hour. Two hundred incendiary bombs fell on Essex villages.

Among unexploded bombs unearthed was one 25 years old. Workmen installing an A.R.P. shelter located the bomb and hurriedly summoned a disposal unit, which was amazed to discover that it had been dropped in the last war. A raider cruising over a south-east coastal town bombed a working-dass district. A public house sustained a direct hit and the landlord, his wife, the staff, and customers were trapped. A second bomb wrecked three houses, killing three persons. A big bomb dropped on the outskirts of London last night completely wrecked two houses and rendered a dozen others uninhabitable. It also damaged scores of others. A formation of escorted German bombers was intercepted at a great height near a south-east town in the morning. British fighters attacked from above, and the Germans scurried off towards the coast. One was shot down.

Three shattering explosions in the south-west shortly before sunrise closed London’s thirteenth night-long raid, the raider apparently unloading before scurrying to escape the R.A.F. dawn patrols. A high-explosive bomb levelled six houses and damaged many houses in the north-east. Thousands of Eastenders sheltered in the Holborn underground. Many are homeless. Major-general and Mrs William Hugh Usher Smith were both killed when a bomb struck their hotel. A bomb which dropped in the grounds

of the Westminster Roman Catholic Cathedral during recent raids caused a big crater, but no damage was done to the cathedral buildings or the archbishop’s house. The Japanese Embassy in London has been evacuated owing to the presence of a time bomb dropped during the raids.