RAIN OF BOMBS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 45, 21 January 1938, Page 7

RAIN OF BOMBS

BARCELONA SHAKEN. HAVOC IN SHORT TIME. BIG DEATH ROLL. (United Press, Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received January 21, 8.5 a.m. LONDON, Jan. 20. . . The Barcelona correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says that the latest estimate is 400 killed and 200 wounded in an air raid which was carried out by six two-engined bombers from Majorca. An earlier raid was driven back by Government fighters. V The bombs simply rained down and the whole city was shaken, said a Barcelona business man in a telephonic interview. The raid lasted oniy 90 seconds and the machines, which flew past at a great height and at a terrific speed, had gone almost before the anti-aircraft batteries could come into action. Three machines bombed the lower part of the city, where a serious fire broke out. The fronts of tall apartment houses were ripped off, revealing the bedrooms, parlours and kitchens. The bombs caused craters in the pavement and laid bare the gas and water pipes. ' MOST FRIGHTFUL OF WAR. The raid is acknowledged as the war's most frightful bomumg. The entire city in loss than two minutes' bombing, was reduced to terror and the raiders completed the job by machine-gunning the streets. Five eight-storey buildings in . one street were wrecked, burying the occupants. Two hundred persons dead or wounded were removed from a burning warehouse. Fifty are still imprisoned. Aviation experts say that the bombs were the most powerful seen. Although weighing less than 2cwt they were as destructive as those weighing one ton. The master of the British ship Clonlara has advised the British Consul. at Valencia that an unknown submarine fired a torpedo at the Clonlar. The torpedo missed. A message from Burgos states that the insurgents claim that a three-day offensive has resulted in the occupation of 24 square miles of territory.