MORE RAIDS ON BRITAIN

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21212, 7 September 1940, Page 9

MORE RAIDS ON BRITAIN

300 AEROPLANES IN WAVES ONE SHOT DOWN EVERY TWO MINUTES KING AND QUEEN VISIT AIR HEADQUARTERS (Official Wireless) (Received Sept. 7, 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 6 The King and Queen today visited the headquarters of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command, where Their Majesties saw the operating room where the fighter squadrons receive instructions when enemy aircraft are attacking Britain. News of an air raid were received while Their Majesties were at headquarters. An advance official statement gives the enemy aircraft losses in today's attacks on Britain, ascertained up to 5 p.m. as 38. The Royal Air F orce losses were 15 fighters, but seven pilots are safe. According to an Air Ministry bulletin, the British fighters were shooting down enemy aircraft which raided southern England this morning at the rate of one every two minutes. About 300 aircraft, in waves of 20 or 30, approached the Dover cliffs early today. Most of the air-fights were over Kent and Sussex, but a number of raiders was intercepted off Beachy Head. The Polish Squadron, which has been so successful this week, again shot down six raiders this morning and probably two more.

Large Formations Driven Back This morning’s air attack on Britain, in which the enemy suffered heavy losses and was driven back, is the subject of a Ministry of Home Security communique, stating that a large formation of the enemy crossed the coast of Kent this morning, and, splitting up into a number of sections, attempted to launch simultaneous attacks on several Royal Air Force aerodromes. Our anti-aircraft guns and fighter aircraft engaged the enemy, who was driven back after some intensive battles. Bombs were dropped, causing slight damage to one factory in the Thames Valley, where a small number of persons was injured. Reports indicated that elsewhere the damage and the number of casualties from this morning’s attacks were very slight. During last night’s attacks minor damage was done and a small number of persons injured as a result of bombs dropped in a district in Wales. In this morning’s air battles 34 enemy aircraft were shot down by our fighters in the first wave. Bravery of Nurses Demolition squads are still searching for some victims of the bombings of yesterday and last night. Several three-storey houses in a north-west town collapsed upon cellars in which the occupiers were sheltering. The number of planes over the Midlands is reported to have been the largest since the outbreak of the war. Chronic patients in a ward suffered worst when a bomb hit a Kent hospital. Several women were trapped under heavy debris. A nurse clad in a nightdress crawled into the wreckage to give injections of morphia. London Area Not Penetrated A Ministry of Home Security communique on this afternoon’s raids on south-east England says: Early this afternoon aircraft crossed the coast of Kent in large formations. Our anti-aircraft defences engaged the enemy at all points and his aircraft were driven back by our fighters before they could penetrate to the London area. In this attack only slight damage was done and no casualties have been reported. Later this afternoon the enemy made a further attack with a smaller force of aircraft across the north ’Kent coast in five formations, three Jof which remained south of the Thames Estuary. In this attack a fire was caused in an industrial installation on the north bank of the Thames, but no casualties have been reported. There are no reports of bombs having been dropped else • where during this attack.