ATTACK BY DAY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 January 1943, Page 3

ATTACK BY DAY

ON DOCKS AT CHERBOURG FOLLOWS NIGHT ONSLAUGHT ON LORIENT. MAIN ENEMY SUBMARINE BASE. LONDON, January 15. „ R.A.F. Bostons bombed Cherbourg today. Enemy anti-aircraft guns put up a heavy barrage over the harbour but bombs were seen to fall right among the docks. The big Spitfire escort had an easy time, as no enemy fighters came up to challenge them. This raid took place a few hours after a Bomber Command force had attacked Lorient, Germany's main Atlantic submarine base. The sky was clear over the port and the bomber crews were able to pick out their targets in bright moonlight. Antiaircraft gunfire was intense, but that did not keep the bombers from setting the targets ablaze. One bomber which flew round for an hour reported ten large fires. Two planes did not return. Lorient is the main U-boat base in France. The number of anti-aircraft guns kept there shows the importance attached to it by the enemy. Shelters erected early in 1941 have accommodation for 20 submarines and construction of another building for a further ten submarines is proceeding. In the raid on Lorient, a British Official Wireless message states, the gunners in some of the bombers found their turrets freezing up, ice forming inside the aircraft. The pilots’ oxygen masks, and inter-communi-cation microphones attached to helmets, also froze. The captain of one Halifax reported ten large fires and also a particularly bright red explosion near one of the dry docks, suggesting that an oil tank had been hit. MINOR RAIDS ON BRITAIN. Today, German planes bombed targets on the south-east coast of England. There were some casualties, including a small number killed. BRITISH FIGHTERS THREE LOST IN DAYLIGHT RAIDS. TWO GERMAN AIRCRAFT SHOT DOWN. LONDON, January 15. Fighters again attacked enemy communications in France today. Three of our planes did not return. Two enemy bombers have been destroyed over Britain.