PORT WRECKED

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1940, Page 7

PORT WRECKED

By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.

british raid success bay of biscay town invasion bases suffer

Rec. 8.30 p.m. London, Sept. 29. How British bombers wrecked dock buildings and set fire to warehouses and a timber yard during the intense bombardment of l'Orient (A Bay of Biscay port), where they caused fires visible for 70 miles, is vividly described in an Air Ministry statement. The raid, aifie,d by good visibility and - cloudless sky, lasted three and a-half hours. High explosive and incendiary bombs fell at tiie rate of five a minute for over an hour. Fires spread . rapidly among dockside warehouses and a huge blaze engulfed buildings near the harbour power station, lighting up the docks and river. Line of Bombs Across Dock. Sticks of high explosives straddled shipping lying in the basins and river anchorages. The ■ first bonib from one stick exploded on the eastern dock and the remainder burst in a line ending at tiie west dock on the opposite bank. An Air Ministry communique stated aircraft on Thursday night niade further

heavy attacks on the phannel ports, including Ostend, Calais, Boulogne and Le Havre, where particularly heavy darnage was observed. Kiel and other military objectives in norUi-west Germany were successlully bombed. One of our aircraft is missing.'During the raid on Kiel a large vessel at anchor is believed to have received a direct hit.^ One pilot reported leaving a colossal red and orange fire on the east side of the harbour basin. A large fire was also started on the west side and another vessel is presumed o '-ave been hit. >- Along the Dortmund-Ems Canal bombs were seen to straddle the new aqueduct. A salvo of high explosives filled the lock gates. Le Havre was bombed for Two and ahalf hours. Tiie docks were reduced to ft mass of fires and wreckage.