DIRECT HITS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 June 1941, Page 6

DIRECT HITS

MADE ON ENEMY TANKER SWIFT ATTACK IN STRAITS OF DOVER. SHIP LEFT ON FIRE WITH DECKS AWASH. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 12.20 p.m.) RUGBY, June 11. An Air Ministry bulletin states that Blenheims of the Coastal Command, escorted by fighters on offensive patrol, attacked a 5.000-ton German tanker in the Straits of Dover late this afternoon. The planes dropped ten heavy bombs and scored seven direct hits and three near misses. At the end of a minute the tanker was on fire, with her decks awash and she was listing heavily. The pilots told how they came across the tanker, with two escort vessels, steaming through the Straits in clear water. All the bombers went straight into the attack and each of them scored at least one direct hit on the ship. Two of the Blenheims scored two direct hits. According to an Air Ministry bulletin. it is probable that German antiaircraft batteries at Zeebrugge brought down one of their own fighter aircraft during an attack by R.A.F. bombers this afternoon. As the R.A.F. bombers turned away for home, they saw two enemy fighters come up. One of them, a Messerschmitt 110, suddenly dived steeply towards the sea, with smoke pouring from it. Shipping in the harbour at Zeebrugge bore witness to previous R.A.F. attacks. In the middle cf the harbour itself a ship lay sunk and another, which was alongside the mole, was listing heavily.