AIR ONSLAUGHTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 164, 11 June 1940, Page 7

AIR ONSLAUGHTS

R.A.F. ACHIEVEMENTS. bombs in ruhr! . (United Press Association—By Electnc Telegraph—Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) Received June 11, 11.50 a.m. RUGBY, June 10. The armoured vehicles and mechanised columns which had filtered throug'li the left wing of the Allied defences south of thq River Bresle were hunted and repeatedly attacked by strong forces of R.AiF. bombers during daylight. operations yesterday.

In a series of intensive attacks, large forces of bombers dropped nearly a thousand bombs of various types within a period of fifteen minutes. Several direct hits were scored bn enemy columns, an anti-aircraft battery, and other targets. Later still, a larger force of bombers successfully attacked enemy forces on the roads near Poix. Infantry and motor transport on the move were bombed, and hits scored on a group of small tanks in the centre of a village through which the enemy column was passing. R.A.F. activities against the enemy were less widespread during the night. They ranged from the mouth of the Somme to Flushing in the north, Mezieries in the south, and throughout the industrial areas of the Ruhr. More than 6600 incendiary bombs were dropped over the Ardennes, and fire after fire was seen to be blazing furiously. The flames were followed by many explosions. Nine hundred incendiary bombs were also dropped in the Hirson region, where the explosions continued for 20 minutes after the attacks were made. Meanwhile, formations of bombers were over the Ruhr and registered direct hits on important military objectives. Key railway centres and important tracks in the. same areas were subjected to heavy assault by both incendiary and high-explosive bombs. FOREST FIRES.

“During the last 24 hours medium and heavy bombers of the R.A.F. have again been active in attacks on enemy lines of communication immediately behind the fighting front. Armoured fighting vehicles, mechanised transport columns, and troop concentrations were also heavily bombed in the Abbeville, Amiens, Beauvais, and Rouen areas. River crossings on the Somme, Aisne, and Meuse were repeatedly attacked during the flight. Serious damage was caused to the enemy’s ammunition dumps and supplies when large tracts of the Ardennes forests between Gharleville and Fumay were set on fire. “Other formations of heavy bombers attacked a large number of military objectives in Rhenish Prussia and the Ruhr. Four of our aircraft are missing. The squadrons of the 11.A.F. operating in France have been further' reinforced.” \ FRENCHMEN’S WORK.

A French Air Ministry communique states: “Our Air Forces continue their energetic action, the crews doing everything possible without counting the cost. During the whole of yesterday and last night bombing squadrons continued their work of , destruction in the enemy’s rear, particularly in the region of Soissons, Pontavert, and Bourg. Over 75 tons of explosives were dropped on marching columns and tanks. The most important hits were made on lines of communication. Several Oise bridges were destroyed and over 30 German ’planes were brought downj in fights.” WIDESPREAD FIRES. In Belgium eight direct hits on the railway junction at,Gharleville wrecked the main line track, demolished warehouses and set a petrol-container alight. A railway siding crowded with loaded goods wagons was straddled by a salvo of bombs and left blazing. Ax Valenciennes an oil storage plant, bombed by the light of a parachute flare, exploded in a vast sheet of flames. Another aircraft returning from Germany encountered a ‘large convoy of vehicles near Wavre, and, having no bombs i left, the captain decided to attack the convoy with machine-gun fire. The gunners opened fire from a height of 150 ft and for 20 minutes kept up an almost incessant fusillade on the convoy. Enemy-occupied aerodromes at Abbeville, and also Eindhoven, in Holland, were raided during the night. At Abbeville a fierce fire was seen to break out following heavy bombing attacks, while at Eindhoven more than 2000 rounds were fired in the course of a series of low-flying machine-gun attacks on the aerodrome and buildings. The Air Ministry lists the names of 24 officers and men killed in action, of whom seven were previously reported missing and one previously reported missing, believed killed.. There are 24 wounded or injured in action, four died of wounds received in action, seven missing believed killed on active service, .12 killed on active service, six wounded on active service, *l4 died on active service and nine prisoners of war previously reported missing.