SIGNIFICANT ATTACKS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 246, 16 September 1940, Page 2

SIGNIFICANT ATTACKS

KEPEATEDLY HIT

NAZI INVASION BASES

TERRIFIC R.A.F. BOMBING.

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Sept. 15, Invasion bases' on the Dutch, Belgian and French coasts received the full force of last night’s operations by bomber squadrons of the Royal Air Force. Throughout the night from soon after 10 o’clock till shortly before dawn this morning a series of heavy attacks was launched by separate striking forces on barges and shipping concentrations. Barges were repeatedly hit by high-explosive and incendiary bomim, and widespread damage was caused to docks and harbour installations.

When the Channel ports were bombed people on the English coast could see flashes of the explosions of bombs, the shells of anti-aircraft guns, tracer bullets and' flares along the whole coastline from Boulogne to north of Dunkirk, and the thud of the explosions could be felt on the Kentish coast. Observers state that it was the fiercest and most prolonged bombardment of the coast so far.

The Vichy correspondent of the British United Press says it is reliably stated that the R.A.F., which is hammering the German shipping concentrations and ports in the Channel and the North Sea, is now much more accurate than the Luftwaffe. The British Fleet and Air Force are reported to be keeping up a 24-hour attack on German shipping at ports in Norway, Holland. Belgium and France. Tremendous destruction is reported, particularly at Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne, and several supply ships have been set on fire at Le Havre. Great fires are reported on the French co?6t between Boulogne and Dunkirk. British bombers also attacked convoys of small boats, pontoons and barges moving down the Channel hugging the Belgian and French coasts. BARGES WRECKED. The Air Ministry communique states: “Strong forces of bombers attacked enemy shipping in harbours and docks on the French and Belgian coasts last night. Concentrations of barges were wrecked and dock installations were set on fire at Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk, Ostend and Antwerp. A daylight attack was also made on a convoy of tankers off the mole at Zeebrugge, in which one ship exploded after a direct hit. Two of our aircraft were lost.” , , . Barges in the Boulogne harbour basins were bombed in a series of lowlevel and shallow dive attacks Hits were also scored on adjoining wharves and jetties and several large explosions accompanied by brilliant red flashes were observed. Intense opposition was encountered from the Boulogne ground defences, and one raider which was held by a least six searchlights was hit m several places bv shell splinters while making a low-level run over a target. At Ostend, where the docks were subjected to an hour’s bombardment, barge concentrations in the, basins were clearly seen in the bright moonlight, and sticks of heavy-calibre bombs fell across the rows of barges. In one dive attack made across the outer port a line of bombs scored direct hits on barges lving along the ea?i. and west sides of the port and started two fires.. Others from the same stick struck a dock and the railway station and exploded on the edge of a whar , causing another fire. MANY FIRES STARTED. In an attack a few minutes later bombs straddled t'he harbour entrance from the west pier to a concentration of barges in the new outer harbour. Incendiary bombs which were also dropped on barges and along a quayside started a line of fires on one side of the miter harbour. A great hre on the edge of one basin was seen over an hour later to be still raging and growing. , ~ The raid on Dunkirk began shortly after midnight, and was pressed home in spite of strong oouosition by ground batteries and searchlight posts ranged round the harbour. Repeated hits were obtained on the tidal basins, on a railway yard inside t'he docks, and on laige buildings on throe sides of a_ commercial dock. Many heavy explosions were seen within the target area, and one of several fires which broke out con he seen 30 miles out to sea. Searchlights which interfered with observation were bombed and machine-gunned. At Calais, which was simultaneously attacked, barges moored to one side of the Carnot basin and in the west basin were wrecked bv direct bits. Bursts were seen in many parts of the tidal harbour and on docks. dock buildings, railway sidings and junctions a t'he southern end of the harbour. RAIDS ON ANTWERP. From before midnight till the enily hours ‘of this morning a strong force of raiders attacked the docks and harbours at Antwerp, where a large number of barges were sighted in the middle of the river alongside the canal and in docks leading down to the liver. Salvoes of high-explosive and incendiary bombs were drooped cm those targets as well as oil the docks al The Ua first four bombs of a stick which fell across the eastern section of the Austrowell Docks burst on the quayside' and the remainder across tlie'docks, and others hits started fires on the ouayside near the junction of the canal and the river, and on the north side of tlio canal During the previous afternoon R.A.F. bomber forces bad success! ully attacked a number of barges moored on the river at Ijiisselmond; cast of Rotterdam. A convoy of six or seven tankers, each about 2000 tons, was sighted off the mole at Zeebrugge and direct hits were scored on one vessel, which exploded in a mass of flames, cloud and dense black smoke.