SUDDEN STROKE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 December 1940, Page 9

SUDDEN STROKE

ATTACK ON LUFTWAFFE BASES R.A.F. AT WORK. SPECTACULAR EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, December 7. Aerodromes in France and the Low Countries—the enemy’s bases for night raids on the British Isles —were successfully attacked by a strong force of Royal Air Force bombers from nightfall till several hours after midnight. The Channel ports of Dunkirk, Boulogne and Calais were also attacked. It is officially announced that two of our aircraft are missing.

Behind this announcement of last night’s raids lies a story of a whole night of the successful seeking out and attacking of nests from which the enemy are sending their raids to attack Britain For this purpose a powerful force of bombers was diverted from the more usual task of raiding Germany's vital centres. Some aerodromes, states the Air Ministry’s new service, were attacked many times in sharp sudden raids. At Chateau d’Un, in I the Plain of Orleans, the aerodrome was raided several times with marked success. Bombs were seen to burst across the hangars and runways, and there were many explosions and a number of fires. At Melun many fires sprang up and when heavy bombs exploded a mass of debris was thrown high in the air, and a pilot could clearly' see fragments of buildings flying in every direction. Villay Coublay was twice successfully attacked. At Chartres there were direct hits on hangars in the southwest corner of the aerodrome. A spectacular explosion followed and an equally impressive fire. At the Vcndeville aerodrome, near Lille, a burst of flames followed an explosion of heavy bombs, showing that a store of petrol had been hit.

Many other aerodromes in occupied France were attacked. At Le Touquet a pilot came down to 500 feet so that his machine-gunners could spray the aerodrome with accurate fire. In the Low Countries a number of aerodromes were hit. At Le Culot and Brussels bombs straddled .a flare path, and at Harskamp bombs which fell on a hangar caused explosions and a fire. Aerodromes at Yyenburg, Rotterdam, Trond and Eindhoven were also successfully raided.