ISOLATED BOMBING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 November 1940, Page 6

ISOLATED BOMBING

BY ENEMY RAIDERS FEW CASUALTIES & SLIGHT DAMAGE. EFFECTIVE BRITISH ATTACK ON OSTEND. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.35 a.m.) RUGBY, October "31. There was little air activity over Britain up to midday, after which the enemy made a number of attacks by isolated aircraft on various parts of the country, states a communique. Bombs were dropped on two towns in the Eastern Counties and in points in South Wales and the Midlands) The number of casualties was small and damage was slight. A small force of Blenheims last night attacked targets in Ostend Harbour which had previously been attacked but had since been repaired. The easy identification of targets enabled the bombers to score direct hits freely on quays, shipping and berths. Every second bomb burst was followed by heavy explosions ancl debris was thrown high into the air. FAMOUS PLACES DETAILS OF RECENT DAMAGE IN LONDON. DEBRIS ON CENTRE COURT AT WIMBLEDON.

(Received This Day, 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, October 31

A lone raider this morning dived out of clouds and bombed a south-east town, demolishing several shops and damaging others. There were a number of casualties, some fatal. Among places recently bombed in London are St Boniface’s Church. Leicester Square, the Dutch Church of Austin Friars, part of which dates to the year 1250, and St Bartholomew’s Medical School. In the Stationers’ Hall ceiling, a representation of St John the Evangelist, which is considered a show piece, has been damaged. A high-explosive bomb crashed into the stand at Wimbledon and flung debris on the centre court, Damage in Leicester Square was caused by a very heavy high-explosive bomb which fell in the south-west corner. A photographic studio and Thurs-! ton’s billiards hall were totally wrecked. The blast hacked off the head of a statuette in the centre of the square, also a hand from a statue of Shakespeare. The Leicester Square Cinema and adjacent shops were badly damaged. An exhibition of billiards antiquities at Thurston’s was destroyed, including a gilt inlaid table which Napoleon the Third presented to Alexander the Second of Russia in 1855. | Six unoccupied taxis were set on fire I and others were destroyed. ENEMY CLAIMS (Received This Day, 11.45 a.m.) RUGBY, October 31. A German communique states: “Our Air Force damaged an aeroplane factory near Sheffield and bombed a military camp. British motor torpedoboats approached the Flemish coast. Naval artillery forced them to retire.”