FIERCE ATTACKS

Taranaki Daily News, 16 September 1940, Page 7

FIERCE ATTACKS

By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.

British Official Wireless.

4 NAZI INVASION BASES

Received 5.5 p.m. * September 14. TNVASION bases on the Dutch, Belgian and French coasts received the full force of last night's operations by bomber squadrons of the Royal Air Force. Throughout the night fiom soon after 10 p.m. till shortly before dawn this morning a series of heavy attacks launched by separate striking foices was made on barges, and shipping concentrations. Barges were repeatedhit by high explosive and incendiary bombs, and widespread damage was caused to docks and harbour installations.

French Channel ports were again heavil;* bombed throughout the night. , The attack began at dusk and continued until 5 a.m. From the Sngbsh coast the flashes of explosions of bombs and shells of anti-air-craft guns, tracer bullets and flares could be seen along the whole coafltline from Boulogne to north of Dunkirk. The thud of explosions could be felt on the Kentish coast. Observers state that it was the fiercest and most prolonged bombardment of the coast so far. Barges in the Boulogne harbour basins were bombed in a series of low level and shallow dive attacks. Hits were also scored on adjoining wharves and jetties. Several large explosions accompanied by brilliant red flashes were observed. Intense Opposition. Intense opposition was encountered from Boulogne ground defences, and one Royal Air Force aircraft, which was held by at least six searchlights, was hit in several places by shells and splinters while making a low level run over the target. At Ostend where the docks were subjected to an hour's bombardment barge concentrations in the basins were clearly seen in bright moonlight. Sticks of heavy calibre bombs fell across rows of bsr^s, In one dive attack made across the outer port a line of bombs scored diiect hits on barges lying along the east and west sides of the port and started two fires. Others from the same stick struck the dock railway station and exploded on the edge of the wharf, causing another fire. In an attack a few minutes later bombs straddled the harbour entrance from the west pier t,q a concentration of barges in a new outer harbour. Incendiary bombs which were also dropped on barges and along the quayside started a line of fires on one side of the outer harbour. A great . fire on the | edge of one basin was seen an hour later i to be still raging and growing.

! Much Dnmage at Dunkirk. ! A raid on Dunkirk began shortly after i midnight and was pressed home despite strong opposition from ground batteries ; and searchlight posts ranged round the : harbour. Repeated hits were obtained on i tidal basins, on the railway yard inside the docks and on large buildings on three sides of the commercial dock. Many heavy explosions were seen within the target area. One of the several fires which broke out could be seen 30 miles out at sea, j Searchlights which interfered with observation were bombed and machinegunned. At Calais, which was simultaneously 1 attacked, barges moored to one side of ' the Carnot basin and in the west basin were wrecked by direct hits. Bursts were seen in many parts of the tidal harbour, gn the docks, deck buildings, railway sidings and junctions at the j southern ehd of the harbour. From before midnight until the early ( hours of the morning a strong force of raiders attacked the docks and harbours of Antwerp, where a large number of barges were sighted in the middle of the river alongside the canal and in docks leading down to the river. Salvos of high explosive and incendiary bombs i were dropped on these targcts as well as on docks and quays. Fires Started on Quayside. The first four bombs of a stick which fell across the eastern section of the Austroweel dock burst on the quayside ' and the remainder across the docks, i Other hits started fires on the quayside near the junction of the canal and river and on the north side of the canal. During the previous afternoon Royal Air Force bomber forces successfully attacked a number of barges moored in the river at Ijusselmond. east of Rotterdam. and a convoy of six or seven tankers, each of about 2000 tons, sighted off

the mole at Zeebrugge. Direct hits were scored on one vessel, which exploded in a mass of flames and a cloud of dense, black smoke. "Strong forces of bombers attacked enemy shipping in harbours and docks on the French and Belgian coasts last night," says an Air Ministry communiI que. "Concentrations of barges were pwrecked" and dock installations were set ! afire at Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk, Ostend and Antwerp. A daylight attack was also made on a convoy of tankers ofl the mole at Zeebrugge, in which one ship exploded after a hirect hit. Two of our aircraft were lost." In spite of advei-se weather, described succinctly by the pilots themselves as "generally foul," R.A.F. bombers on Thursday night continued to harry the

German invasion plans. They struck in particular at a network of vital railway junctions and goods yards in western Germany. lt. was oefore 10 o'clock that in thick cloud and drizzling rain the first raider dropped heavy bombs and incendiaries on the Harr.m yards. At the Ehrans yards, near the Luxembourg frontier north of Trier. heavy bombs burst along a line of trucks, causing several explosions and fires which burned with a vivid alare. At Osnabruck, too, the bombers flew through dense cloud. One scraped a balloon cable with its wing tip. Attacking from various heights, the raiders started 10 large fires In the yards. Some of the aircraft which attacked the Essen yards were badly icc-d up. Heavy bombs were dropped on railway sidings. Marshalling Yards Bombed. The Schwerte marshalling yards were also attacked in the face of an intense barrage from light anti-aircraft batteries. Another raider bombed sidings at Emmerich on the Rhine, near the Dutch border. I The Germans recently have been routing much of their military trafflc throueh the Bruseels yards. These have been attacked several times by the R.A.F. in the nast week Thev were bombed agaln on Thursday, and after bursts were seen on the target a U-shaped fire three-quar-ters of a miie long was seen north of the yard There was a series of green-cnl-oured explosions, and another fire 200 yards long was seen in the middle of thc siding. Mcanwhile another section of the raiders visitcd Emden and bombed the doeks and petroleum sheds on the west side of Altebinnen Hafen. The attack vent on for an hour. Squadrons operating over Holland bombed docks at Flushing and Eetfzlji at the rnouth of the Ems opposite Emden. and the Norderney seaplane base and a base at De Koov near Den Helder I A German oil tanker was bombed by Blenheims of the Coastal Command near jLe Havre. A supply ship was also hit.