DAMAGE IN LONDON

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21223, 20 September 1940, Page 5

DAMAGE IN LONDON

RAIDERS SHOT DOWN POLITICIAN’S FLAT BOMBED NAZI ACTIVITY SLIGHT (United press Asn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received Sept. 20, 11.55 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 19 A slight mist is hanging over the Dover Straits and the sky is overcast. . There is a stiff south-westerly wind. 1 The Air Ministry stated: Our ; fighters shot down three enemy ] bombers this morning. < A single German raider bombed . the London area this afternoon, doing considerable damage. South-east England was also bombed, but apart from isolated at- , tacks which caused several casual- , ties the German activity over England was exceptionally slight. Several Home Office windows were broken by a blast. The flat of Miss Ellen Wilkinson, M.P. for Jarrow, was bombed twice in her absence. No Large Scale Action A Ministry of Home Security communique states: No large-scale air action has been reported during th day. Two enemy aircraft dropped bombs in districts in south-east London, causing some damage and casualties. Both were engaged by our fighters and one was shot down. Bombs are also reported from coastal areas in Essex and Sussex, and at one point in the west of England. The number of casualties was small. In spite of bad visibility our fighters successfully intercepted a large proportion of the enemy and five enemy bombers in all have been destroyed. Raiders Shot Down It is officially stated that during this morning RoyaJ Air Force fighters shown down three enemy bombers, two off the south-east coast and one in East Anglia. It is now known that two of the Messerschmitt 109’s which were brought down yesterday over Britain collided in mid-air. They were members of a group of seven Messerschmitts which were attacked by a single Spitfire pilot. “They immediately turned for home in such disorder that two of them collided and crashed,” said the Spitfire pilot. Polish Airmen Decorated General Sikorski decorated 20 Polish airmen with the Polish equivalents of the D.S.O. and M.C. Their squadron destroyed 71 raiders in 18 days. Further reports of the raids on London state that after 17 hours’ rescue efforts, an injured man was released from a car in which he was trapped in a basement in a West End garage. His wife was killed nearby. Eight members of the Auxiliary Fire Service were killed in the same garage by a bomb. Rome’s Version of Attacks A message from Rome states that the Rome radio announced that 1200 German planes attacked Britain on Tuesday, making unusable seven of the ten aerodromes in the London region. Nazi Production Falls “We can win only by clever fighting and by landing every blow where it hurts and weakens most,” added Sir Archibald. “Indiscriminate bombing of German civilians would only increase the suffering and misery and it would not protect our people "German industrial production, as a result of Royal Air Force attacks, is reliably reported :o have fallen by 3P per cent. Lack of sleep has shaken the morale of German werkers.