HUGE BLAZE

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1940, Page 7

HUGE BLAZE

By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.

British Official Wireless.

CHANNEL COAST CALAIS TO BOULOGNE

ENEMY PORTS POUNDED

Rugby, Sept. 19. Continuing their relentless hammering of the enemy's Channel ports, bomber squadrons of the Royal Air Force last night again attacked shipping concentrations, docks and harbour installations from Flushing in the north to Le Havre in the south-west. Le Havre was singled out for the night's heaviest bombardment. Attacking in relays, a strong force of heavy bombers kept up an almost continuous assault upon the harbours, docks and shipping for close on five hours. Many tons of high explosive bombs and great quantities of incendiary bombs were unloaded on the target in the face of fierce opposition from the ground defences. One of the earlier raiders attacked from a «low level beneath cloud. As its first stick of heavy. bombs fell across the dock there was the white flash of a terrific explosion, followed immediately after by a second and smaller explosion which appeared to come either from a ship moored alongside the Bassin de Maree or from a large warehouse on the quayside. A great fire which grew out of the second explosion quickly spread and could be seen still blazing- strongly by the bomber's crew when they were 50 miles away on the return journey. Fire Among Shipping. When the following aircraft pressed home its attacks sticks of high explosive bombs were seen to burst along the quayside of the Bassin de Maree, across the docks at Quai de Saigon and to straddle the Bassin Ballot from north-east to south-west. Fire soon broke out and spread among shipping massed in the Maree basin and in the dry dock near the Quai de Saigon. A stick of bombs was dropped across the dock from such a low level that the violence of the explosion shook the crew of the attacking aircraft. By 11 p.m. fires were raging in many parts of the harbour. A large ship alongside a quay was burnlng strongly and a 7000-ton ship about a mile north of Honfleur was seen to be ablaze. The flames were lighting up a bank of low cloud which hung over the docks and the town. Relays of aircraft continued the bombardment until the early hours of the morning. Again and again the docks and ships along the side were straddled with sticks of high explosive bombs. Other Invasion Bases. Other invasion bases at Flushing, Boulogne, Ostend, Dunkirk, Calais, Antwerp and Zeebrugge were also heavily attacked during the night, while other sections of the R.A.F. force, concentrating on rail communication centres in Germany, bombed goods yards at Mannheim, Krefeld. Hamm, Osnabruck, Ehrang and Brussels. Aircraft of the coastal command attacked a convoy off Borkum. A direct hit was registered on an- enemy destroyer. Other coastal command aircraft attacked Port Cherbourg, shipping off the Dutch coast and the aerodrome of De Cooy. Seven R.A.F. aircraft are missing. While the main attack on Le Havre was in progress other sections of Wednesday night's large raiding force were ranging the French, Dutch and Belgian coast lines, bombarding invasion bases at Boulogne, Calais, Dieppe, Dunkirk, Zeebrugge, .Ostend, Flushing and Antwerp. At Boulogne low cloud hampered the attackers and several raiders cruised for over an hour at the vicinity of the targets awaiting a break in the clouds and a favourable opportunity to attack. Sticks of bombs were then dropped across the dock from the l'Oubet basin to the tidal harbour. The electric power-house is believed to have been struck at Dieppe, where a violent explosion and a bluishgreen flash followed the bursting of a salvo of feombs. EJast of Great Explosion. During the raid on Ostend one of the attacking aircraft flying at 1500 feet was turned over on its back by the blast of a great explosion which followed the bursting of a bomb. The docks at Flushing were subjacted to 20 minutes' intense bombardment. Many bursts were seen in the target area and on the dockside | buildings, and explosions broke out on the quaysides. Among several extensive fires started by the raiders one could be seen for a quarter of an hour after leaving the docks. Among other objectives attacked was a big railway yard at Brussels, where fires broke out and caused explosions which continued for 20 minutes. Longrange gun emplacements at Cap GrisNez were again bombed and after a low level attack by one bomber the crew observed quantities of material flung into the air. A few minutes later, several miles out at sea the same crew saw the flash of a great explosion. *