POUNDED AGAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24410, 23 September 1940, Page 7

POUNDED AGAIN

NAZI-OCCUPIED BASES BRITISH BOMBING RAIDS HEAVY DAMAGE INFLICTED TWO SUPPLY SHIPS HIT ißrt'sn official Wireless) (United Press Association) ; (By Electric- releeranh Copyright) RUGBY, Sept. 21. (Received Sept. 22. at 7 p.m.) The Air Ministry communique issued at 5 p.m. states: "Last night strong forces of R.A.F. bombers again attacked the enemy occupied oorts of Antwerp. Zeebrugge, Ostend. Flushing. Dunkirk Calais, and Bouiogne. Further damage was done to military stores, barge concentrations and shipping. Other forces of bombers again visited distribution centres and goods vards at Mannheim. Ehrang, Krefeld, Hamm, Soest, Osnabruck and Brussels. The Dort-mund-Ems canal and rail communications near Maastrich and several enemy aerodromes were also heavily bombed. The aircraft of the Coastal Command carried out bombing attacks on two enemy suoDly ships which were hit. and severely damaged. Two of our aircraft have not resorted to their base." Wide Area Bombed Later information of the raids mentioned in the above communique show that the Dortmund-Ems aqueduct was bombed for the second night in succession and other successful attacks were made on rail communication centres and aerodromes over a wide area of enemy territory. At Dunkirk, the port, which was. already heavily damaged in the previous night's attacks, was subjected to three separate raids, each of about one hour's duration. In the first., which began at .8.30 p.m., direct hits were scored in several dock basins. A searchlight was nut out by machine-gun fire, and large fires which broke out after the bombing could still be seen when the attacking aircraft were well out to sea on the homeward journey. In the second attack, a stick of bombs exploded across a fleet of 50 barges which were seen lying in one basin. Other sticks straddled the main basin and burst near the sides of the approach channel. The third raid took place in the early hours of Saturday morning and was..directed mainly against a concentration of some 50 ships moored in Nos. 2 and 3 docks. Attacking through . gaps in the clouds, the raiders laid bombs across the basins and the adjoining canal in which more ships were lying and started a number of large fires on the quaysides. Target Hidden by Clouds At Calais a cloudbank across the harbour at 3000 feet hampered the attack, and one pilot spent an hour and a-half in the vicinity of his target awaiting an opportunity to bomb. Hits on Docksides Earlier attackers, taking advantage of occasional gaps in the clouds, scored hits on the docksides and one side of the entrance channel shortly before midnight. A line of fires was seen burning strongly along the jetty between the tidal harbour and the east basin. Barges and shipping in Boulogne harbour were repeatedly attacked in a series of sorties which began at 11 p.m. on Friday and ended at 4.30 a.m. on Saturday. Bombs burst on the southern arm of the entrance channel along the harbour wall and among a fleet of barges in a basin. _ Other aircraft scored hits on the quaysides to the east of the Loubet basin and near the main harbour, the explosions of bombs being followed bv fires. A number of ships at anchor in the outer harbour were also attacked but low cloud and rain prevented observation of the results. At Ostend the attack on the harbour was carried out in the face of intense anti-aircraft and machine-gun fire and a balloon barrage which was flying at a great height -above the docks. The bombing was carried out in shallow dives which at times brought the planes to within 1500, feet of the ground, and the raiders scored hits on docks, wharves, lock gates and straddled the outer harbour, the main west dock and a large dock north of the Bassin de Chasse. Several large fires were started along the dockside buildings and a direct hit is believed to have been scored on a large suddlv shiD on which a stick of bombs was dropped from a low level. Supply Train Heavily Bombed Railwav yards at Hamm, Ehrang, Krefeld, Mannheim and Soest were also bombed, and a supply train travelling towards Munster was attacked from 800 feet and hit, by two heavy calibre bombs., one" of which exDloded on the front of the train and the other to the rear. Fragments of this train shot'up as high in the air as theattacking aircraft. Amongst the many aerodromes attacked was a seaplane base on the island of Texel. which was heavily bombed, and the former civil 'airtort at Jersey was also raided. A large factorv near Maastricht which was stronslv defended bv both light and heavy anti-aircraft batteries was bombed and set ablaze, the fire being visible 50 miles away. The heavy bomber responsible foi this successful attack was hit many times in the wings and fuselage, but no vital part was damaged and the aircraft was brought safelv. home. Attack On Flushing . Moonlight aided the British raiders in their attack on Flushing during Friday night's raids. , A squadron-leader who took part in the attack stated that even from a considerable height he could plainly see the docks and everything in them. "We came uo by the water way at a pretty good height and then I put the nose, of the machine down and made a dive attack. Searchlights nicked us, up and the guns kept on at us u»til we turned off. Our bombs fell right across some warehouses on the dockside and. though I was too busy weaving ; in and out to see very much, mv second pilot who had a good look round, told me we started three small fires and a iarge one which may have been a petrol dump. "The captain of another aircraft who came along a bit later said he

found our fires still going and stoked them up with a few more bombs." The pilot-officer who followed the sauadron-leader into the attack said, " We were just getting into position for the run in when we saw him dive down with the flare all coming up behind him. We saw his bombs burst and four flres start. Then we went out to sea a little way and turned and dived in after him." Ostend a Target One of the pilots who bombed Ostend. a New Zealander who was recently awarded the D.F.C., was confident of having damage* a large su~olv shin in the harbour. Two Hudsons of the Coastal Command scored direct hits on two enemy ships off the Dutch coast during Fridav night. * They had completed routine patrols and. finding thev had Dlentv of oetrol in reserve, searched the Dutclv coastal waters for Dossible targets? One aircraft found a destrover near Ameland. It was barely visible even in the moonlight and the pilot had difficulty in keening it in sight as he prepared to dive bomb. One salvo was seen to fall 20 yards on the warship's beam. The pilot next found a convoy sheltering in the lee of a Dutch island. Selecting a vessel between 6000 and 8000 tons for his target, he made a dive attack with explosive and incendiary bombs. "Part of the salvo hit the ship and burst behind the bridge. The explosion blew us upwards," said the pilot. " Heavy anti-aircraft fire opened from the shore, but our chief danger was from ' flying bits of burning debris from the ship. I went down to the water to avoid the enemy's fire. From a long way off we could see the glow from the ship." A Big Explosion The second Hudson attacked a ship which was. just visible under the low moon as a long narrow outline on the water. " There was a huge flash as the bombs hit the solid target, said the pilot. A big explosion followed. Four seconds later we were at 500 feet, and going away fast, but inside the aircraft, we could hear the thud of an explosion. and its force threw us forward. The last we saw was a shower of burnin<* debris-