ENEMY RAIDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 January 1941, Page 5

ENEMY RAIDS

* SWANSEA AS PRINCIPAL TARGET BRITISH NIGHT FIGHTERS ACTIVE. i NAZI FORMATIONS BROKEN UP. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. January 18. The Luftwaffe avoided London last night, and concentrated mainly on South Wales, j where waves of planes dropped many incendiary and explosive bombs, causing some tires. Swansea was the main objective. The attack started soon after dark and lasted till early this morning. The raiders employed their usual procedure, dropping fire-

bombs and then explosives. A number of people were trapped when a heavy-calibre bomb crashed into houses and shops in a town in south-western England. A woman and two babies were killed, but those trapped were later rescued. A threatened large-scale attack on the West Country petered out in the face of the' hcaviest»gunfire yet heard in this area. British night fighters harassed the enemy raiders both in South Wales and the West Country, and it is believed they broke up a big formation and considerably reduced the scale of attack on Swansea. An official communique states: "The enemy activity last night was mainly directed against South Wales. In one town (later officially stated to be Swansea) fires were started and damage was done to houses, shops and commercial buildings. The situation was always well in hand, and by the early hours of the morning the last tires had been extinguished. The number of casualties was not large. "At a place in Devon a small number of people were killed when several houses were damaged. Bombs which were dropped elsewhere did little damage and caused very few casualties." A later communique states: “There has been slightly more enemy activity over this country today. During the afternoon a number of enemy aircraft crossed the coast singly. Ono of those penetrated to the outskirts of London and dropped bombs, and others attacked several points near the coast. Little damage was caused. A small number of persons were killed and a small number injured. “it is now known that an enemy bomber was destroyed in the attack on Swansea last night and another off the south coast in the previous night, both by anti-aircraft gunfire." ' When five bombs fell in a residential i district on the outskirts of London to- ! day children playing in a street near where one was whistling down threw themselves on the ground and afterward resumed their play. A bomber (lew over the east coast this morning and machine-gunned a train.