HEAVY ATTACKS ON GERMANY

Southland Times, Issue 24243, 28 September 1940, Page 5

HEAVY ATTACKS ON GERMANY

BIG FIRES SEEN AT KIEL

FRENCH COASTLINE LIT BY FLAMES

(United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received September 27, 11.40 p.m.) LONDON, September 27.

Royal Air Force bombers during the night launched a heavy attack on the harbour and docks at the German naval base at Kiel. It is thought that a large vessel at anchor suffered a direct, hit. One pilot saw a colossal red-orange fire on the east side of the harbour and there was also a fire on the west side.

Fires were seen to break out during raids on Bremen and direct hits were scored in an attack on the Munster aerodrome. An attack was made on the new viaduct on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, but low clouds interfered with observation of the results.

Once again the whole French coastline was lit with fires as British bombers swooped down to attack barges, docks, harbour installations and gun emplacements. Special attention was given to a spot near Calais. The wind in the Channel is now blowing from the north-west.

Smashing blows dealt by bombers of the Royal Air Force last night left marks on Germany and German-oc-cupied territory which will not easily be erased. Berlin was subjected to a prolonged attack and important military objectives were severely damaged. Blazing fires marked a trail of devastation left by the British bombers along the Channel ports. The stronglydefended naval dockyard at Kiel, in which the Schamhorst was lying, was paid marked attention by the raiders. Many direct hits were scored and a big explosion was seen very close to the Scharnhorst. Railway communications and goods-yards in both Germany and enemy-occupied France were among the other important objectives which suffered heavy damage. POWER STATION BOMBED Describing the long air-raid on Berlin an Air Ministry bulletin says that from soon after 10 p.m. until the early hours of the morning heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force kept up a series of attacks on important military objectives in and around Berlin. Four separate attacks within an hour were made on the Klingenberg power station in the heart of the industrial section to the east of the city. This station, known as the Gross Draftwerk Klingenberg, has an output capacity of 300,000 kilowatts and is the power supply source of some of the city’s largest industrial concerns. Sticks of heavy calibre bombs hurst on and around the station. This was followed by an outbreak of fire. The West power station, two miles south of Tegel See, which has already been heavily damaged in previous raids, was again attacked and a large fire started.

Salvos of high-explosive bombs were dropped on the Schoneberg railway yards, three miles south-

west of the centre of the city and on the main railway junction near the Charlottenburg district, one of the chief residential quarters of the city.

In an attack on Berlin’s main airport at Tempelhof, a line of bombs was laid across the north part of the aerodrome. Nearby railway sidings were also bombed. Another raider which arrived over the east outskirts of the city six minutes before midnight cruised above the industrial district for 20 minutes searching for its target under heavy fire from the ground batteries. After five parachute flares had been released the target, a munition factory at Rudersdorf, 17 miles east of Berlin, was located and bombed and a fire was seen to break out.

RIVER PORT ATTACKED Over Germany, bombs were also dropped at Lubeck, on railway yards near Hanover and on the main line track at Lunen. The canal was straddled by bombs and dock gates were hit in an attack on the river port of Haltem, south-west’ of Munster, and at Rendeburg, to the west of Kiel, a factory was bombed and set on fire. The Varel aerodrome and the Wamemunde seaplane base were also attacked.

The Royal Air Force bombarded the French Channel ports for some hours. Early on Thursday night the entire coast between Dunkirk and Boulogne appeared to be on fire, lighting up the country almost like daylight. Terrific explosions in the neighbourhood of Calais and Cap Gris Nez shook Kent They were the heaviest of all the raids on the French coast.

In Belgium, heavy and medium bomber forces raided the docks at Antwerp and a large power station in Brussels. Bombs were seen in both cases to explode within the target area. Shipping concentrations and harbour installations at Flushing, Dunkirk, Ostend, Calais and Boulogne were again

heavily bombed, the raids starting in the early hours of Thursday morning and continuing until shortly before dawn.

POLISH CREWS TAKE PART Polish crews operating with the Royal Air Force took part in the attacks on Ostend where hits were scored on the main wet docks and quayside basins in which a number of ships were lying. The attacks were pressed home from low levels in the face of intense antiaircraft fire and the glare of many searchlights. In addition to the damage caused by high-explosive bombs, heavy fires were started within the docks by incendiary bombs. Fires and heavy explosions were also reported at Calais by medium bomber crews who delivered a concentrated attack lasting half an hour on the dock and shipping basins. ■ At Boulogne, which was raided at intervals for three and a-half hours, many violent explosions were caused. One, described as “terrific” by an observer, momentarily lit up the whole town. Great fires were started around the eight main basins. Several of these, whose flames leaped 200 feet into the air, could be seen by crews and aircraft approaching the target from 50 miles out to sea.

Informed circles in Berlin state that the Royal Air Force raid last night destroyed eight blocks of flats, killed two and wounded five civilians. The Royal Air Force is reported to have raided Northern and Western Germany. Three persons were killed.