DAYLIGHT ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 October 1940, Page 6

DAYLIGHT ATTACKS

MADE BY BRITISH BOMBING FORCES Damage Done in Enemy Coast Ports DIRECT HITS ON HARBOUR WORKS, BARGES AND SHIPS IN FACE OF HEAVY ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIRE (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.35 a.m.) RUGBY, October 7. In a series of daylight raids, beginning soon after dawn on Sunday and continuing’ until late in the afternoon, our bombers attacked coastal objectives and enemy shipping’ over an area extending from Harlingen, in the north, to Boulogne in the south-west. The weather conditions were consistently bad, with low cloud and heavy rain restricting visibility. One early morning raider, approaching Calais under cover of clouds, attacked a concentration of barges lying in one of the main basins. Two heavy-calibre bombs aimed from a low level exploded among a group of fifty barges. Another bomb hit a jetty and a fourth struck a large warehouse beside the Carnot Basin. Almost immediately after this attack, the bomber was itself engaged by a formation of twelve Messerschmitt 109 fighters. The British rear-gunner, in the ensuing’ running flight, shot one of the Messerschmitts down in flames and held off the rest of the formation until the bomber gained cover in a cloud. Barges and shipping at Boulogne and Ostend were also attacked. One raider, crossing’ over Holland, bombed the aerodrome at Diepholz, 30 miles south-west of Bremen. Two high-explosive bombs were seen to burst on the tarmac immediately in front of a line df hangars. i Other aircraft ranging over the Dutch coast bombed a number of supply ships lying alongside the quay at Horlisten, and barges in the River Maas, and attacked shipping in the Zuider Zee ports of Stavoren and Enkhuizen, scoring hits on a quay and north of the harbour. Here a number of small ships were hit and fires were started. Supply ships in the Dutch harbour of Den Helder, the terminus of the Great North Holland Canal, were attacked in the after'noaon in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire. Four bombs struck the harbour works, causing a violent explosion and a cloud of red sparks. One 800-ton ship making towards the harbour was also bombed from a low level. In a shallow-dive attack a direct hit was scored on the stern of the ship, which was left enveloped in a cloud of steam and smoke. It had disappeared when the aircraft returned to the scene a few minutes later.