GERMAN FIRE-BOMB

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1940, Page 7

GERMAN FIRE-BOMB

FILLED WITH CRUDE OIL NEW INFERNAL MACHINE London, Sept. 5. "The Nazis' new-type incendiary bombs are regular infernal machines," Mr. A. E. Turner, inspecting engineer in Britain for the Victorian Government, said to-day. "They combine intense demolition and incendiary properties, causing a deep crater, and, in addition, spewing blazing oil over a 21-yards radius." An investigation of these new bombs — having one section filled with crude oil, and another for ignition— was made to-day at the office of the Victorian Agent-General, Mr. A. L. Bussau, when Mr. Turner demonstrated a partial reconstructiOn from the parts of three bombs which exploded on his farm near London last night. The bomb, which is two feet long, with the diameter o£ a waste paper basket, has a handle like that of a coat scuttle, prompting Mr. Turner's belief that_ they are pitched out from bombers by the crews. "Presumably," said Mr. Turner. "they were meant for the burning of Britain s crops, but they have failed, because the crops have been harvested a month before the average date, and the farmers already are ploughing again." In Mr. Turner's opinion only foam spray or cartloads of sand would extinguish the bombs, and the Daily Mirror states: "The new fire-bomb presents firefighters with a new problem, as a stirrup pump is useless against blazing oil, necessitating supplies of sand."