BRITISH BOMBING RAIDS

Evening Star, Issue 23694, 30 September 1940, Page 5

BRITISH BOMBING RAIDS

ANOTHER VISIT TO BERLIN INVASION BASES PLASTERED (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright (RUGBY, September 29. r (Received September 30, at 11.13 a.m.) An Air Ministry communique says: Operations were carried out last night by bomber forces of the R.A.F. over Germany and the occupied Channel ports. The weather conditions generally in North*'Germany were unfavourable, .Wit numbers of our aircraft reached their objectives. Berlin and district electric power stations and anti-aircraft gun positions were bombed. Elsewhere! in North Germany the targets included important railway centres and aerodromes. The naval base at Wilhelmshaven was strongly attacked, and fires and explosions caused. The munitions works at Hanau, near Frankfurt, suffered severe damage. Along the Channel coast Le Havre, Fecamp (62 miles from Le Havre), Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk were all heavily bombed, as well as a line of big gun emplacements near Cap Gris Nez. The enemy base at Lorient was again attacked. Two of our aircraft are missing. TERRIFIC EXPLOSIONS. Terrific explosions shook the Kent coast to-night, when the R.A.F. delivered what is believed to have been the'most violent of all attacks on German invasion ports. Vivid orange and red flashes and sheets of flame lit up the sky as hundreds of bombs burst in an unbroken line on the French and Belgian coast. The flashes were bigger than anything yet seen from England, indicating that more powerful bombs were used. Houses on the coast shuddered continually for hours. ’ The Rome radio states that R.A.F. raids on Berlin have killed 1,753 and wounded 2,049. SMASHING BLOWS. The surprising number of place names is a. feature of the detailed statement issued by the Air /Ministry in a bulletin regarding the R.A.F. attacks on Germany last night. ■ The bulletin states that the power stations in. Berlin, the dockyards at (Bremen and Wilhelmshaven, the munition factory at Hanau and rail communication centres over a wide area in Germany were among the many objectives attacked. Other strong forces operating at a shorter range raided the North Sea and phannel ports from Antwerp to Le Havre, BAD VISIBILITY. The weather conditions over Germany last night were extremely bad, with low clouds entirely covering many of the target areas, and the downward visibility was often restricted to an occasional glimpse through a momentary break in the cloud layer. Despite this handicap to navigation, the raiders detailed for Berlin completed their 600-mile flight to the German capital. Arriving over the city on schedule about midnight, they located and bombed the -west power station and the main, transformer and switching station at Friedrichsfelde. High explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped and.bursts were seen close to the targets. A successful attack was also made an the railway junction at Tendal, some 65 miles due west of Berlin.' A series of attacks by heavy bombers was made on the naval dockyard at Wilhelmshaven in the early hours of the morning. Bomb bursts were seen within the dock area. One well-aimed stick caused an explosion and an outburst of fire. The docks at Bremen were also bombed in a high-level attack carried out shortly after 2 o’clock in the morning. Strong forces of heavy bombers, penetrating deep into western Germany, attacked the large munition factory at Hanau, 15 miles east of Frank-furt-on-Main. This important plant, which produces metal alloys for aeroplanes, torpedo and submarine parts, and also bronze bearings for the variable pitch airscrew, was heavily bombed in shallow dive attacks. One of the first sorties scored direct hits on the factory buildings, causing great,explosions and fires,. which led the following aircraft directly to the target. Sticks of high explosive bombs repeatedly straddled the plant. ADMISSION FROM GOEBBELS. Goebbels, broadcasting from (Berlin, admitted that the R.A.F. raids over Germany had paralysed the work of tho Hitler Youth in some quarters. FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS WIDE-RANGE OFFENSIVE (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 29. (Received September 30, at 11.40 a.m.) A large rectangular building, its roof fallen in, was seen to be enveloped in a mass of flames, and great clouds of black smoke' from many other fires burning in the German target area towered thousands of feet into the air. One aircraft was detailed to attack the Hanau factory, but was unable to reach it owing to temporary engine trouble. It located and bombed, instead, an oil storage plant at Frankfurt. Its highexplosive bombs straddled the target, and one great explosion was seen after a load of incendiaries had been dropped. The other niglit raiders, concentrat-

ing on rail communications, scored direct hits on the junction at Hamburg, bombed tho main line station at Hanover, and started fires in a wood bordering the railway line near Ommen, 12 miles east of Zwolle. The railway yards and sidings at Munster, Hamm, Cologne, and Mannheim were also attacked. At Cologne explosions . which continued for 10 minutes were seen to break out in the target area and at Hamm, where bombs straddled the yard from north to south, a building close to the tracks was set ablaze. A direct hit was scored on the flarepath of an aerodrome near Bassenheim. Other aerodromes in Germany on which bombs were dropped during the night were those at Magdeburg, Munster, and Handorf. In Holland enemy-occupied air bases at Texel and Eindhoven were attacked. In the night’s , counter-offensive operations against German invasion bases the heaviest attacks were launched against Boulogne and Le Havre and shipping and docks at Frecamp. Wimereux, Antwerp, and Dunkirk were also bombed. On his arrival at Le Havre one pilot saw a large fire a quarter of a mile west of the harbour, the result of an earlier attack during the night. Another fire was also burning strongly. More bombs were added to the blaze, many burst's being seen in the dock area and among seaside buildings. More fires broke out. Our aircraft were over Le Havre a full two hours, and besides damage to docks two direct hits are believed to have been scored on merchant vessels in the harbour. Flames leapt from bomb bursts in the harbour. At Calais incendiaries fell alongside the inner basin and heavier bombs on the wharves. At Fecamp the harbour was hit and more fires were started at Boulogne. At Antwerp docks 3 and 4 are believed to have been straddled, but low-drifting clouds handicapped detailed observations. Heavy bombs were also dropped among gun positions at Cap Gris Nez, their bursts being seen through the haze of cloud well within the target area.