RAIDERS MET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 September 1940, Page 5

RAIDERS MET

MANY DRIVEN AWAY ' FROM LONDON NEW TYPE OF INCENDIARY BOMB. “MOLOTOV BREAD-BASKET” (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 10. At 12.30 a.m. it was stated that bombers could be heard over the city of London and that bombs had been dropped over a wide area in southwest London and the city. Enemy aircraft had been reported over the south-west, the north-west, and the Midlands. After midnight two screaming bombs were dropped on a south-west suburb, one on a football ground, and another fell on an empty space. Two bombs fell outside a nurses’ home and one in a street in central London. No casualties have been reported. Fighters tackled the raiders, many of which never got near the London area. A Canadian squadron fought its greatest battle over the streets of London itself, kind chased the enemy up from London Bridge to Hammersmith. An agency report says that a “Molotov bread-basket,” a large canister containing small incendiary bombs, was dropped in one London district. An eye-witness states that there was a “swishing” noise followed by an ear-splitting explosion as the “basket” exploded several thousand feet up. Then scores of small explosions followed all round.

POLISH SQUADRON SHOOTS DOWN 31 NAZI PLANES’ IN THREE DAYS. CONGRATULATED BY AIR MINISTER. LONDON, September 9. A Polish fightei’ squadron shot down 31 planes in the air battles of last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Air Secretary, Sir Archibald Sinclair, has sent a message of congratulation to the Polish Premier, General Sikorsky. NAZI REPORT R.A.F. RAID ON BERLIN. (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) LONDON, September 10. The R.A.F. again raided Berlin. A message from the German capital states that an alarm lasted for 45 minutes from midnight and continued: “Bombs damaged a number of apartment houses in the northern districts. The raiders have not reached the centre of the city. British bombers also attacked Westermuende, at the mouth of the River Weser. Anti-aircraft fire droye back some planes before they reached their objectives and others were so dazzled by searchlights that they dropped their bombs in open country.”

WILD CHARGES MADE BY NAZI PAPER. ‘•JUSTIFICATION” FOR LONDON RAIDS. (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) BERLIN. September 10. The morning papers say the London raids are justified by the months of reckless and planless British bombing, which has killed 78 German children and wounded 51. The “Voelkischer Beobachter” says: “It is a mistake to call the present action the battle for Britain. The Germans regard it modestly as a battle for London, from which will develop the battle for Britain.”