BATTLES ALOFT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 246, 16 September 1940, Page 7

BATTLES ALOFT

VIOLENT “DOG-FIGHTS.”

RAIDERS SENT CRASHING

(United Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec 10 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 15 At least 50 planes were engaged in a “dog-fight” over the Channel and London area during the second warning this afternoon. Watchers on roofs saw the opposing planes curveting thousands of feet up and the fragments of two raiders, evidentlyblown to pieces by anti-aircraft fire, were falling from a great height.

Screaming l bombs fell in a SouthWest London area where the raidei-s encountered violent anti-aircraft fire. Terrific bursts of anti-aircraft fire heralded the German raid at noon. Forty-eight bombers and 24 Messerschmitts roared out of thick clouds flying over the Thames Estuary towards London. British fighters came from all directions and thrilling “dog-fights” foflowed. Two bombers were seen hurtling to their doom. The battle progressed in a south-westerly direction. Then the raiders made for home. The bombing, which lasted for some minutes, appeared to be frenzied, Whistling bombs and high-oxplosvies seemed to fall on one of the most exclusive residential areas. London’s third warning followed the appearance of strong formations of German planes flying to London from the direction of the Thames Estuary. Observers in a south-east district said this was the strongest force of raiders they had thus far seen. British fighters again engaged tho Germans, many of whom were heard over the London area where machine-gunning was clearly audible.

LONDON UNDER FIRE. ADJUSTMENT OF ROUTINE. NO WEAKENING OF WILL. LONDON, Sept. 13. When the anti-aircraft batteries again gave a spirited welcome to tonight’s raiders Londoners went to their shelters to complete 14J hours under cover in the 24 hours up to midnight. The shelters are increasingly assuming an appearance of well-organised dormitories. For night-workers in the busy offices a large degree of adjustment to the new way of life has been achieved, but the continuous morning alarm has brought new problems, necessitating the banks remaining open an hour after the normal closing time for the purpose of paying out wages. The Minister of Aircraft Production (Lord Beaverbrook) has sent a message to the aircraft factory workers in which he pays a tribute to tho maintenance of output in spite of tire raids.

Hundreds of patients, including airraid victims, have bfeen transported from the south-east of England to the quieter hospitals in Yorkshire. BLIND BOMBING. The indiscriminate nature of the enemy’s night bombing is fully realised only by those who have toured London and its suburbs and outskirts. Historical monuments, ancient churches and hospitals have suffered heavily in the blind bombing. Many stately houses and other buildings have been struck down, but it is among humble homes in the mean streets of congested suburbs that evidence of the Nazi fury is most visible. Pathetic tales are told by piles of wreckage to which many houses which were the pride of their occupants a few days ago are now reduced. , . The Germans’ mendacity in their efforts to justify the slaughter of civilians and the destruction of private property is well illustrated in the enemy’s account of the raid on Buckingham Palace. An official German report declares that several German bombers attacked London, including oil tanks close to Buckingham Palace. Needless’to say. no oil tanks are within many miles of the palace. FRIGHTFULNESS FAILS. A remarkable feature of the public attitude toward the repeated attacks is that at the end of a week of intensive bombing, far from there being any weakening of the will to defy the menace, the public resolution is strengthened. There is evident a quickening adaptation to the conditions of air warfare, and a clearer and more reassuring calculation of the chances has been induced as well as a better understanding of how best to escape danger. The discipline and steadiness of nerve displayed by the public are blunting the edge of what hitherto has been the enemy’s most successful weapon —frightfulness. London, in the front line, is steadily improving its defences and adjusting its life accordingly. The object of all individual actions and all regulations, counsels the Times, must be to see that its activities remain as normal as possible, and thus deprive the enemy of the satisfaction of lowering the output, retarding the communications and interfering with work of any essential kind. The front line must be held, supplied, organised and repaired under fire, and both official rules and private actions must be governed by this principle.