WIDE MINEFIELDS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 250, 19 September 1940, Page 9

WIDE MINEFIELDS

BRITISH AIRMEN’S FEAT.

ENEMY SHIPS BOMBED.

(United Press Association —Copyright.)

(British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 10 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 18. The crews of British aircraft night after night have been laying minefields in enemy-occupied harbours and territorial waters from the Norwegian coast to_ the Bay of Biscay. They were given a thorough training in their tyork before ever the first mine was laid.

They made long reconnaissance flights over the areas and became familiar with the routes and the peculiarities of the various coastlines. That the minefields have been laid with only one or two losses in aircraft is a high tribute to the skill of the navigators and the tenacity of the pilots. Besides carrying mines, the aircraft engaged in these expeditions also carry bombs iri case an enemy supply ship be met. Two nights ago the captain of one aircraft reported on his return that he had bombed a supply ship of about 7000 tons.

“My navigator,” he said, “was certain a direct hit was scored and the vessel was sunk.” On the same night an enemy tanker was attacked with two high-explosive bombs and afterwards machine-gunned. The first bomb scored a direct hit on the after-part of the ship, while the second missed the vessel by ten yards. The ship was obviously damaged and was forced to stop. Incidents such as those, says an Air Ministry bulletin, help to relieve the monotony of the sea crossing, but the crews engaged on these operations know their main job is minelaying and nothing is allowed to divert them from it.

An earlier Press Association message stated: Flying hundreds of thousands of miles, the R.A.F. has laid over 30 separate minefields from Norway to the Bay of Biscay. Some reach to within a stone’s throw of the enemy quaysides. Thousands of tons of enemy shipping 'have been destroyed. .