FIERCE BATTLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 August 1940, Page 5

FIERCE BATTLE

ATTACKS ON COASTAL AREAS SOME BARRAGE BALLOONS SHOT DOWN. HAVOC IN SOUTH-WESTERN TOWN. (Received This Day. 10.45 a.m.) LONDON, August 15. In the first actions this morning over south-east coastal towns, a fierce dog fight resulted in eight German fighters being shot down. Later, diving down from a great height, German fighters attacked balloon barrages on the south-east coast. One balloon was set in flames and its cable, freed from the blazing envelope, came down with a lash like that of an enormous whip. The ground defences, then putting up a terrific wall of fire, prevented a second wave of Messerschmitts from reaching their objectives. This afternoon, several squadrons of Messerschmitts raided a south-eastern town for the third time today, and attacked barrage balloons, on which they swooped at 400 miles an hour. A hail of bullets from the leading plane sent a balloon down in flames. The remaining raiders abandoned the attack, and no bombs were dropped. Many houses were wrecked in a raid on two south-west towns today. Casualties are believed to be slight. Direct hits destroyed a brewery and damaged another brewery. Many houses over half a square mile in this part of the town were reduced to ruins. A children's service was in progress in a chapel when the raid began. The children sheltered under a wall and all escaped.

A whole family was wiped out among a number of fatalities resulting from the German bombing of a Welsh town. Scores of houses and shops were damaged.