MILITARY OBJECTIVES IN BERLIN BOMBED

Southland Times, Issue 24234, 18 September 1940, Page 5

MILITARY OBJECTIVES IN BERLIN BOMBED

HEAVY BRITISH ATTACKS ON CHANNEL PORTS (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, September 16. Last night the Royal Air Force again bombed military objectives in Berlin, states an Air Ministry communique. Further heavy attacks were made on concentrations of war supplies, barges and shipping at dockyards and ports at Hamburg, Wilhelmshaven, Antwerp, Flushing, Ostend, Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne.

Other forces of Royal Air Force bombers attacked distribution centres at Hamm, Osnabruck, Soest and Krefeld, the goods yards at Hamburg and a railway junction at Theine. They also bombed and made direct hits on an enemy warship off Terschelling. An oil tanker and a supply ship in the Elbe Estuary were severely damaged.

Aircraft of the Coastal Command sank an enemy supply ship of 5000 tons off Ijmuiden. Convoys off the Dutch coast were also attacked. Two supply ships were sunk and others severely damaged. From all these extensive and successful operations all the British aircraft returned safely. Other aircraft of the Coastal Command attacked German convoys and again struck heavily at shipping concentrations on the Channel coast. The first convoy was attacked off the Dutch coast by a Lockheed Hudson aircraft. A pilot dived on the nearest large ship and sank it with his bombs. Then he machine-gunned an armed trawler and followed this by thoroughly machinegunning an E-boat which was escorting the convoy. After that, the pilot resumed his patrol. A second German convoy was stationary off the Dutch coast when it was attacked by another patrolling Hudson at dawn today. The pilot dived on one of the ships in the semi-darkness and let go three bombs. One at least struck home, for as the Hudson pulled out of the dive it was peppered with splinters from the ship which is believed to have been sunk. ATTACK ON CONVOY Last night’s attacks on concentrations of German vessels at Channel ports were made by waves of Bristol Blenheims. were damaged when Blenheims attached a convoy off Sangatte, near Calais. The main attack, however, was reserved for Le Havre, where 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. There were fires when the Blenheims flew away. The night’s heaviest attack was directed against the docks at Antwerp, where great fleets of barges and many ships have been accumulated during recent weeks. In the raid which began half an hour before midnight and was kept up for close on three hours many tons of high explosive and hundreds of incendiary bombs were unloaded on the docks and on .shipping by relays of heavy bombers. Bright moonlight in the early stages of the attack clearly revealed many barges moored in the dock basin. The barges which were struck and set ablaze exploded in flashes of flames which lit the whole dock. A goods yard caught fire and buildings were wrecked. The trail of fire following the series of explosions spread rapidly along the quayside, engulfing the warehouses and other buildings in its course. At Ostend, Shipping and docks were subjected to a series of intermittent raids by heavy and medium bombers over a period of four hours. In the first attack, launched shortly after midnight, a line of bombs burst across the docks and outer harbour. The second stick, falling at one end of the basin, struck what appeared to be a large transport vessel which immediately caught fire. The following attackers straddled the basin and the shipping wharf with a line of high-explosive bombs. These started a number of fires which later, merging into one great blaze, lit up the clouds 5000 feet above the town. Other bombs caused heavy explosions which were seen by one aircraft while still 15 miles from the target. HITS ON SHIPPING

The attacks on Boulogne were delivered by a force of medium bombers. Visibility in the moonlight was good and, making full use of the available cloud, the bomber pilots attacked the targets by diving through a gap and climbing quickly back into the cloud cover after dropping their bombs. Repeated hits were scored alongside two of the main basins, on shipping, on the jetty formerly used by cross-Channel steamers and on the southern half of the mole.

At Dunkirk, extensive damage was caused by medium bombers which scored direct hits on the docks and harbour equipment. One tremendous flash which could be seen 20 miles away was caused, by a violent explosion which occurred in No. 4 dock. Here a fire was still raging more than two hours later. In the raid on Calais and Flushing, bombers’ crews reported frequent hits

on docks and quaysides and many outbreaks of fire. Ships along the quay at Calais are believed to have been set on fire, and a fire which broke out on the edge of the West Basin was still burning strongly 30 minutes after. Berlin was again visited early on Monday morning by an harassing force which bombed military objectives to the north-west of the city, the Tempelhof airport, and also attacked a power station which was damaged in a previous raid. The raiders, whose visit gave the people of Berlin their first two alarms in one night, met anti-aircraft fire. In the course of attacks on German rail centres, other heavy bomber forces raided Osnabruck, where six heavy calibre bombs were seen to burst across a goods yard, and Soest, where a heavy explosion occurred in the railway yards some time after bombs were seen to strike the target. At Krefeld, fires were started and a goods train standing in the yard was hit. FIRE STARTED AT HAMM Six buildings collapsed when six bombs fell across them at Hamm, which has been described as the nerve centre of German rail transport. A fire started in the sidings could be seen 20 miles away. During an attack on long-range gun emplacements at Cap Gris Nez, near Calais, searchlights and adjacent guns were bombed successfully. The surrounding woods were set on fire and emplacements left encircled by a fire which was-visible many miles out to sea. Successful attacks on enemy shipping were a feature of the night’s operations. An enemy cruiser sighted off Terschelling Island just before midnight was hit by a high-explosive bomb from a heavy bomber which at once came under intense fire from the warship The bomber had the leading edge of its starboard wing and parts of its tail unit shot away, the landing wheel punctured and many bullet holes in its wings, but, in spite of this damage, was brought safely to its base.

A supply ship of about 7000 tons was attacked by another heavy bomber off the German coast and left in a sinking condition after several direct hits were scored on it.

A 6000-ton oil tanker seen steaming westward without lights was also intercepted and attacked with bombs and machine-gun fire from a height of only 500 feet. Two direct hits were scored, one on the after part of the vessel and the other amidships.