AIR COMBATS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 140, 14 May 1940, Page 8

AIR COMBATS

NAZI ADVANCE HINDERED. HEAVY R.A.F. STRAFING. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 12. The Air Ministry announces : A fuller account can now be given of R.A.F. operations since Saturday morning. Extensive reconnaissances show that much damage lias been done by our aircraft to aerodromes in Holland used by the enemy for landing troops, and the enforced use of emergency landing grounds has caused the enemy very heavy losses in aircraft in addition to those destroyed by attacks from the air. Fourteen out of 16 troop carriers observed on one landing ground alone were seen to be damaged. In spite of intense anti-aircraft and fighter opposition the communications of the large German mechanised forces now advancing in Belgium and Luxembourg have been dislocated by the destruction of both roads and bridges at Maastricht. Railway communications have also been interrupted at that point and roads destroyed. Important road and railway damage has also been caused in Germany between the Rhine and the Dutch frontier, including damage to supply trains and a railway station. It is noticeable the enemy is now finding it necessary to employ much larger fighter patrols. Some of our fighters were engaged on patrols 20 strong. Nevertheless, our- fighter losses have not been heavy and enemy aircraft have been unable to prevent our troops from moving rapidly to aid our Allies. Further attacks have been made by the enemy on our aerodromes in France without causing serious damage. Our' machine-gun posts have put up a spirited defence and shot down a i number of enemy bombers. Fighter aircraft patrolling in The Hague and Rotterdam areas engaged and shot down two enemy fighters and two reconnaissance aircraft. Three other enemy aircraft were shot down by Defiant fighters off the Dutch coast. A few unidentified aircraft approached the east coast and one Junkers 88 was intercepted at great height and driven down. Our reconnaissance aircraft engaged a Heinkel and shot it down into the sea off the Dutch coast. The enemy’s losses of aircraft are undoubtedly very large but it is impossible to assess them closely. Forty-five are known to have been shot down iii combat by the R.A.F. since Saturday morning and it Can safely be assumed that as' many again have been destroyed or damaged. On all fronts our pilots and crews pressed home their attacks relentlessly and with high courage. Losses have necessarily been incurred in these hazardous and vital operations. Altogether 35 of our aircraft have so far tailed to return.' Some of them are known to have made forced landings in Belgium and France. It is now confirmed that the incendiary bombs dropped in Kent oii Friday night numbered 24 and in addition 20 liigli explosive bombs were dropped which exploded harmlessly in a dense wood near Canterbury. BOMBING OF ROADS. .The captain of one R.A.F. aircraft which participated in Saturday night’s bombing of strategic roads behind the German line said: “Our target ivas a crossroad being used by long columns of German reinloroemerits.- As we flew over Holland on the way to the German frontier we had a magnificent bird’s eye view of the grand tight the Dutch were putting up. When ave got to the crossroads they could easily be seen partly because of an aerodrome in the neighbourhood burning like blazes. Other bomber aircraft had obviously been there before us. Our actual target was coveted by a sheet of broken cloud, and through an opening we could see a long line of" transports on the move. We dropped bombs which burst right on the roads. Immediately all the lights on the vehicles went out in a kind of run from one end to the other.” Another pilot found that the railway line in the target area was in flames. “These flames.” be said, “acted as a beacon and helped us to drop bombs accurately.”