MANY RAIDS ON GERMANY

Southland Times, Issue 24242, 27 September 1940, Page 5

MANY RAIDS ON GERMANY

HEAVY BOMBING BY R.A.F.

MILITARY OBJECTIVES HIT DAMAGE TO INVASION PORTS (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, September 25. , In the extensive Royal Air Force operations against the enemy on Tuesday night, which included the long raid on Berlin, as well as a continuation of the systematic attacks on recent nights on the enemy invasion ports, only two of the aircraft employed were lost The Finkenheers electric power station near Frankfurt on the Oder, more than 300 miles from Germany’s western frontier, was located half an hour before midnight and was twice attacked with sticks of high explosive bombs which were seen to burst in and around the target. The main railway line near Magdeburg and the rail depot and distributing centre at Hamm were also attacked. A number of explosions on the main sidings and sheds at Hamm was followed by a line of fires. Goods yards at Brussels were also attacked. Hanover aerodrome was bombed from a high level, also the aerodrome at the Hague and to the north of Emden where night flying by the enemy was in progress. A British raider here came down to 2000 feet to drop his bombs on the hangar and runway. A flare revealed the wreckage of a hangar destroyed in a previous attack.

NIGHTLY HAMMERING While the long distance raids on Germany were in progress other strong forces of bombers, operating at short range, kept up their nightly hammering of the enemy’s invasion ports from Hamburg to Le Havre. Fires were started at the Hamburg docks. Bombs straddled the shipping bases at Cherbourg and at the Dutch port of Delfzijl. At Ostend repeated hits were scored on the basins and on the harbour jetties. Calais docks formed the target for one of the night’s heaviest bombardments. They were subjected to a series of attacks lasting for nearly seven hours. Barges lying alongside the quays were hit and fires and explosions were seen in many parts of the harbour. Before four o’clock on Wednesday morning more than 30 fires were counted burning within the docks. At Le Havre the raids began at 10 p.m. and continued at intervals until 5 o’clock on Wednesday. Lock gates were hit, warehouses were set alight and many other fires were started. A violent explosion marked a direct hit on what appeared to be the harbour power station. Strong opposition from the ground defences was encountered at Boulogne. Direct hits were claimed here on the wall of one dock and on the jetties between the basins and in many parts of the outer harbour particularly. A big explosion followed by a fire was seen to occur in No. 7 dock. LONG-RANGE GUN POSITIONS German long-range gun positions at Cap Gris Nez were also attacked shortly before dawn and numbers of hits were registered on new emplacements under construction.

A number of military objectives in the heart of Berlin was singled out and attacked. The raid began shortly after 10.30 when the first attacker,

evading the intense barrage of the city’s ground defences, located and bombed the great Siemens and Haise factories which produce a large proportion 'of the electrical equipment used by the German armed forces. Great fires were seen to break out in the target area after the bombing. Berlin’s electric power transformer and switching station at Uriederichsuelde, supplying most of the city’s industrial current, was attacked at 1 a.m. Sticks of high explosive bombs were seen to burst across the plant. A blast furnace in the south-east suburbs was struck, causing large fires. Two sticks of bombs were dropped across a canal bridge two miles southwest of Berlin’s main airport, Tempelhof.