DAYLIGHT ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 October 1940, Page 5

DAYLIGHT ATTACKS

ONLY ONE ENEMY PLANE REACHES LONDON RANDOM NIGHT BOMBING. FORTIETH SUCCESSIVE NIGHT OF RAIDS. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, October 17. Following random enemy raids over Britain last night in bad weather, strong forces of German planes crossed the Kent coast this morning. Only one plane had reached the London metropolitan area by midday. Much less damage and fewer casualties than the night before were caused by the raids last night. Three German raiders were brought down during the night, one each in Hertfordshire, North Wales and on the south-east coast. Royal Air. Force bombers last night continued their raids on German naval bases, other targets including oil plants in central Germany. Within 70 minutes of the beginning of London’s fortieth successive night of raids, the residents of Bishops Stortford, for the second time within 24 hours, were delighted eyewitnesses of the destruction of a German nightraider. Its wreckage was strewn over a wide area. There was no trace of the airmen, but a burnt parachute was found hanging on a tree nearby. The plane, a twin-engined bomber, was brought down by anti-aircraft fire. The remnants blazed furiously for an hour. .A bomber of the same type was shot down in the sea off the south-east coast. The raiders on London defied the pelting rain, and discarding caution, descended within sight of the ground. Though they made frequent dives, they were often too brief to provide the enemy with even a sporting chance of selecting a target, and a few released their bombs when they had returned to the safety of the clouds. The provincial towns received a fitful hammering. The areas raided included the Midlands and the northwest, south-east, and north-east. A bomb scored a direct hit on a communal surface shelter in Liverpool, and caused some casualties, including fatalities. Others are believed to have perished when high explosive bombs demolished the backs of houses in the same district. Thq occupants of another shelter were unharmed. Two well-known men have been killed in recent air raids. These are Mr W. L. Hichens, chairman of Cammel Lairds, a director of the L.M.S., and a member of the Carnegie Trust, and Rear-Admiral I. B. Tower, who won the D.S.C. in the last war, and was formerly director of the tactical school at Portsmouth. RUSSIAN COMMENT NAZI RAIDERS OUTCLASSED. LONDON, October 16. The Russian radio draws attention to the attacks which British planes are making on German air bases from Antwerp to Le Havre, and also notes that German ports and industrial centres are visited regularly. Discussing the efforts of the Luftwaffe, the Russian radio said that the German attacks had had no appreciable results. The British Fleet had not left any of its bases; not even those on the south-east coast of England. RELATIVE LOSSES BALANCE MUCH AGAINST ENEMY. LONDON, October 16. Between October 7 and 14 the German air force lost 71 aircraft, comprising 46 fighters. 22 bombers and three seaplanes. The Royal Air Force in the same week lost 45 fighters and eight bombers, but 27 of the fighter pilots are safe.