ENEMY RAIDERS

Evening Star, Issue 23697, 3 October 1940, Page 9

ENEMY RAIDERS

SERIES OF ATTACKS ON LONDON ALL DRIVEN OFF BY R.A.F. ISOLATED BOMBERS REACH CAPITAL (British Official Wireless.) Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright RUGBY, October 2. (Received October 3, at 10.15 a.m.) An Air Ministry and Ministry of Home Security communique states: “ Early this morning single enemy aircraft made several brief raids across the south-east coasts, in the course of which a few bombs were dropped on isolated points in South-west England, South Wales, and Essex. Little damage was done, and there were few casualties “ Beginning about 9 in the morning and continuing throughout the day, there were a series of attacks on London by forces of several squadrons of enemy aircraft. All these were intercepted and broken up by our fighters. Few of the enemy penetrated the London area. Reports indicate that where bombs were dropped they caused little damage and few casualties, although these included some fatal injuries. On their way to London some of the enemy aircraft dropped bombs on a Kent coast town, with no better success.” The alert alarm sounded twice in quick succession this morning. Residents in the East End saw two formations coming in from the Kent coast. Royal Air Force fighters turned the formations from the capital. The Germans were again using large fighter escorts for their bombers. One formation comprised 150 planes. A number of yollowuosed Messersohmitts were seen escorting a handful of bombers during London’s fifth warning to-day. Large banks of cloud provided the Germans with excellent cover. The German wireless is reviving its attempts at running descriptions of the raids which were abandoned last month after a succession of debacles. It was announced at midday that big battles were occurring in Southern and MidEngland. A bomb last night burst at the rear of a large hospital in the East End, and over 20 persons, including nurses and patients, were injured, some fatally. A high explosive in Central London killed a roof spotter. Four time bombs fell on private houses in Southeast London. Seven high explosives were dropppod within a radius of a mile in the East End. There was much damage, but no casualties. A number of buildings were damaged in a south-east town when fighters chased a bomber. Machine-gun bullets fell like hail in the streets. The raider was apparently attacking street traffic. A German communique claims that extensive fires and explosions were caused by the attacks on London, Southern England, and the Midlands yesterday and last night. Several enemy attacks on South-east England were intercepted and driven off this morning. Nine German planes have been shot down, since midnight, and one British fighter is missing. TWENTY-MINUTE BATTLE FLYING BOAT VERSUS MESSERSOHMITTS GERMAN MACHINES DRIVEN OFF (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 2. (Received October 3, at 1.35 p.m.) A Sunderland flying boat of the Coastal Command fought a 20-minute battle with three Messcrschmitt HO’s off Ushant, damaged them, and drove them off. Tho flying boat, which belongs to the Royal Australian Air Force, was returning from a long reconnaissance on German shipping movements off the west coast of France, states an Air Ministry bulletin. The three Messerschmitts were escorting two Dornier “ Flying Pencil ” bombers, and two 1 of the fighters repeatedly came in on the Sunderland’s beam and one from below. Every attack was beaten off. The Aus-tralian-gunners saw many bullets strike home before the Messerschmitts broke off the fight. The Sunderland was undamaged. SMALL PILOT S GOOD WORK “ HELPS TO BRING DORNIER DOWN (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 2. (Received October 3, at 11.55 a.m.) A few minutes after it had machinegunned the streets of an Essex town a German Dornier 17 bomber was shot down by Hurricanes of the Fighter Command to-day. Tho Hurricane pilots were on their way home from patrol over the North Sea when they found the Dornier attacking the Essex town. By the time they reached it the enemy aircraft had climbed to 4,000 feet. The German pilot tried dodging in and out of the clouds but several Hurricanes got in bursts of machinegun fire and the Dornier crashed twenty miles away near a searchlight post. One Hurricane pilot who had helped to shoot down the Dornier landed near and was congratulated by the surprised searchlight crew who had taken four of the German niruic;' prisoners. They were more surprised

by his size than hia victory, for he was just over four feet three inches, one of the smallest pilots in the R.A.F. Thames Estuary anti-aircraft guns destroyed one of to-day’s raiders —a Messerschmitt 109. Last night antiaircraft gunners were responsible for the loudest explosion beard over southeast London since the bombing began. The gunners thought they had hit a German bomber, but the noise was so great that they wondered whether they had not perhaps exploded its bomb load as well. This morning they found tho answer. They had done both. Their shells had struck one of tho London night raiders and the bomber and the bombs had exploded together. Pieces were found scattered over several miles of south-east London. To-day’s raids brought a change ol tactics by the German air force. Instead of single bombers, or one or two large-scale attacks, smaller raids of from 48 enemy bombers and fighters followed each other from 9 o’clock in the morning till 4 o’clock in the afternoon. All crossed the Kent coast in the same direction and were attacked by Spitfires and Hurricanes as they flew towards London. Four out of 15 Messerschmitt 109 fighters were shot down by a Spitfire squadron over the Kcnt-Surrey border as they flew northwest, The rest of the Messerschmitts were turned back. LONDON'S TERRIFIC BARRAGE LONDON, October 2. Central London was ringed by terrific gunfire in tho early hours of last night’s raid, while the Germans devoted attention to the suburbs. One of 12 incendiaries in a north-west suburb fell at tho entrance to a shelter. A man and a boy rushed out and threw the bomb from the door and extinguished! another with sand. High explosives were rained on a wide area, and then there was quietness, after which the “ all clear ” came before midnight. The bombing was resumed on a more intensive scale after midnight, and shelters settled down to await tho dawn.