CLOUD COVER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 October 1940, Page 6

CLOUD COVER

USED BY THE ENEMY DURING RAIDS ON BRITAIN ON SUNDAY. RELATIVE LOSSES LAST WEEK. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 1.10 p.m.) RUGBY, October 6. Weather conditions today favoured indiscriminate bombing from above low clouds and reports from unofficial sources, that this was largely the work of lone raiders, are borne out by the following Air Ministry and Ministry for Home Security communique: “During Sunday, enemy aircraft, flying singly or in small formations, made attacks on a number of places in SouthEast England and in the London area. A few bombs were dropped in the East Midlands and in East Anglia. At Folkestone and a town in Northamptonshire high explosive bombs demolished some houses and caused a small number of casualties, some of which were fatal. At several other places enemy aircraft dived from the clouds, delivered short bursts of machine-gun fire and quickly flew off. A few persons were injured as the result of these attacks. Elsewhere, though bombs fell in a number of widely separated places, little damage was caused and the number of casualties was small. The weather conditions made interception by our fighters difficult, but reports so far received show that one enemy bomber was shot down.” It is authoritatively stated that during the week ending at midnight on Saturday it is confirmed that German aeroplane losses in battles over Britain amounted to 104, not including machines damaged or probably lost. On the basis of confirmed plane losses alone, German pilot losses are estimated to exceed 250. In the same period the R.A.F. lost forty machines in and around Britain, but from these 21 pilots were saved.