AERIAL TORPEDO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24413, 26 September 1940, Page 7

AERIAL TORPEDO

DROPPED ON LONDON BUILDINGS SHATTERED A NUMBER OF CASUALTIES (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph— Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 25. (Received Sept. 25, at 10 p.m.) Bombers concentrated on central London early to-day, and > number of people were killed cr injured when what is believed to have been an aerial torpedo landed outside a restaurant, demolishing an hotel opposite, and shattering a number of buildings in the neighbourhood The terrific blast was felt 400 yards away Raiders later dropped incendiaries on or near a famous Wren church, and then, guided by the light, dropped several high-explosive bombs. Sixteen incendiaries fell on a North London hospital without causing casualties. Several fires were quickly put out and little damage was done. Raiders bombed Welsh towns over a wide area. Dense mist shrouded the Straits of Dover to-night. The sea was calm, and there was a cloudless sky, with a light north-westerly wind. Searchlights operated in full force to-night when raiders arrived over central London. Guns fired heavily against a single raider Another raider dropped an orange flare, after which a high-explosive bomb crashed with a terrific roar in central London. Bombs fell early in the north, south-east, and south-west of London. The R.A.F. to-night again attacked French and Belgian invasion ports. The banks have decided to remain open during air raids. RAIDS ON TUESDAY CALCIUM CARBIDE USED LONDON, Sept. 24. After a oreak of only a few hours, Germany resumed the blitzkrieg against England this morning, when 100 bombers and fighters crossed the Kent coast. A large formation of Germans was later seen proceeding up the Thames Estuary, and was met by a terrific barrage, dog-fights occurring as the raiders retreated, one fighter plunging into the sea. A British communique states that enemy planes bombed London in several places, hitting and damaging houses and several industrial premises and causing some deaths. Houses were also demolished in south-eastern and north-western districts. A high-explosive scored a direct hit on a London office building and wrecked the upper floors. A south-east coastal area had its longest night raid since the outbreak of the war. Two bombs landed no a famous cricket ground, damaging two pavilions. The raiders on London last night repeated the tactics of dropping calcium carbide incendiaries to illuminate the ground. Searchh'ghts were active, and guns and lights co-oper-ated perfectly to trap and destroy two planes in the inner London area. The raiders swept on to London and many parts of the provinces, and bombs fell in central London and on the southern and eastern outskirts. The raiders twice attacked a southeast coastal town, two towns in the north-west of England, and towns in the Midlands, Wales, and the northeast of England. A bomb falling on a hospital in the south-east was the twenty-second on or near the building since the blitzkrieg began.