NAZI SHIPS HIT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 248, 17 September 1940, Page 7

NAZI SHIPS HIT

R.A.F.’S GOOD WORK.

LE HAYBE BATTEBED.

(United Press Association—Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) (Bee. 10 a.m.) BUGBY, Sept. 16. A German supply ship which was sunk while at anchor at Ijmuiflen (Southern Holland) last night by aircraft of the. Coastal Command is stated officially ’ to have been of 5000 tons.

Other aircraft of the Coastal Command attacked German convoys, aud again struck heavily at shipping concentrations on the Channel coast. Tlie ' first convoy was attacked off the Dutch coast by a Hudson aircraft. The pilot dived on the nearest large ship and sank it with his bombs. Then ho machine-gunned ail armed trawler and followed this by thoroughly machine-gunning an E-boat which was escorting the convoy. After that the pilot resumed his patrol. The second German convoy was stationary off the Dutch coast when attacked by another patrolling Hudson at dawn to-day. The pilot dived on one of the ships in semi-darkness and let go three bombs. One at least struck home for, as the Hudson pulled out off the dive, it was peppered with splinters from the ship, which is believed to have been sunk.

Last night’s attacks on concentrations of German vessels at Channel ports were made by waves of Blenheims. Two ships were damaged when Blenheims attacked a convoy off Sangatte, near Calais.

The main attack, however, was reserved for Lc Havre, where the pilots of the first wave of Blenheims saw four large ships moored alongside the deep-water quay. Repeated salvoes of bombs struck squarely on the quay, and there were fires when the Blenheims flew away.

The pilots in the second wave made their attack ill bright moonlight. Amid intense anti-aircraft fire, the Blenheims dived over the harbour and bombed systematically. The. bombs burst among the ships, and direct hits were seen on a fishtail pier, the Jeannes Cotivcrt Quay, the Quai de New York, and the deep-water quay; Damaged ships, shattered masonry, and store houses were the results of the bombings. WIDESPREAD TARGETS.

Last night the R.A.F. again bombed military objectives in Berlin, states an Air Ministry cofnmunique. It adds that further lieaVy attacks were made on concentrations of war supplies, barges, and shipping at the dockyards and ports of Hamburg, Wilhelmshaven, Antwerp, Flashing, Ostend, Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne. Other forces of R.A.F. bombers attacked the distribution centres at Hamm, Qsnabruck, Soest, and Krefeld. The goods yards at Hamburg and the railway junction at Rheine were also bombed. Direct hits were made on an enemy warship off Terschelling and an oil tanker and a supply ship in the Elbe Estuary were severely damaged.

Convoys off tlio Dutch coast were also .attacked, two supply ships slink and others severely damaged. Attacks were also made on shipping and docks at Le Havre, where ships along the quays themselves wore repeatedly hit. From all these extensive and successful operations all our aircraft returned safely. INVASION MACHINE. SMASHED IN ADVANCE. SEVERE R.A.F. ASSAULTS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Sept. 15. Large forces of British bombers, as already eta ted in an Air Ministry communique last night, ranged over Germany, France, Belgium and Holland during the week-end, systematically seeking out and breaking up the German High Command’s invasion ma-i chine. Flying through appalling weather— | aircraft were struck by lightning and their radio aerials burnt off in a violent electric storm and many machines were iced up—the raiders struck heavily at the invasion’s front line in the Channel ports of Holland, France and Belgium, and they attacked the bases, railway junctions and transport centres in Germany whence come its reserves and supplies. One of the night’s most devastating onslaughts was made on Antwerp. Havoc was caused in the vast network of docks, warehouses and petrol sheds on the banks of the Scheldt and on shipping lying in the stream as large forces of bombers dropped nearly 40 tons of high-explosive bombs and oyer 1000 incendiaries in an attack lasting from 11 p.m. till 1.30 a.m. The port, shipping, long-range guns, anti-aircraft batteries and searchlight concentrations at and round Calais were all bombed heavily from 8.30 p.m. till nearly 11 p.m. While some of the raiders attacked the harbour and shipping concentrations inside it, others sought out the big guns nearby and started fires in these target areas. HITS ON BARGES

A huge fire was begun after one aircraft bad attacked barges in Calais Harbour, and another pilot, flying through a cloud into moonlight, clearly saw and bombed various basins. Bombs burst on wharf buildings, and barges in No. (i dock suffered particularly severe damage. One pilot reported that some minutes after he had dropped high-explo-sive bombs among the barges there was a biu explosion from the middle of the dock and flames shot upward. Another said: “I could actually see my bombs burst right on a concentration of barges on the east side of No. 6 dock. The last two scored a direct hit on a 5000-tbn merchant ship at the north end of the dock, and clouds of dense smoko began to come out of her. The dock wias filled, with barges, and I estimated there were about 300 of them.”

One aircraft was held in a blinding glare of 10 searchlights. It was hit in several places and there was intense tracer fire; all the same, the pilot made his attack and hit the north end of the Carnot Basin.

Large numbers of barges were found in Ostend Harbour, where the defences had been considerably strengthened during the past week. Many barges were in the outer harbour, the main west dock, and No. 1 Basin, and these were all bombed.