1940-06-20 — Page 6

BURIED

IN

THE CHINA MAIL, JUNE 20, 1940

DEBRIS

Grim Stories Of First Serious Raid On Britain

Hundred Planes ITALIAN

Take Part

London, To-day.

ABOUT 100 GERMAN 'PLANES took part in the four hours' raid on Britain early yesterday. Seven bombers were destroyed and it is likely that more came down in the sea, although final figures are not yet known.

Most of the casualties were in a Cambridgeshire town when eight houses in a row were flattened. by two bombs.

In one raid, 40 'planes came over in relays of about 15 minutes. They were immediately met by heavy anti- aircraft fire lasting for two hours. Al- together, 10 or 11 countles were affect- ed.

is

all

Broken timber and rubble that is left of the eight houses in the

town, where Cambridgeshire lives were lost.

nine.

enemy bomber caught by a search- light. Climbing rapidly, he attacked.

Riddled by his machinegun bul- lets, the bomber crashed in flames In Essex. One of the crew was seen to jump by parachute.

the

I

same

A few minutes later, pilot saw another German bomber held by a searchlight beam over the

black Thames Estuary, its clearly lit up. Again he climbed, en-.

crosses

The houses were completely shat- of which tered by the bombs, one made a direct hit, and windows, chim-gaged the enemy and again the bom- neys and roofs

for some distance

around were smashed.

When one couple were dug out of the debris they were still in the bed-clothes.

Another couple escaped--but little daughter was killed.

their

The husband said that he, his wife and and daughter went downstairs- stayed there for a quarter of an hour. Then they went back to tunately, for the room was later com- pletely wrecked.

bed-for-

His wife and he got into bed, with the child in a cot beside them. Sud- and a denly, there was a whistle

was wrecked boom and the house around them.

Waited Under Debris

He protected his wife as best he could and calmed her down, they waited till they heard voices: and When they were dug out, he his wife were only scratched, their little girl was killed.

ber crashed in Essex.

One Blenheim shot down a Heinkel III over Norfolk..

Blenheim In Action

Blenheim Further south, another was having a fight with a Heinkel III as they dodged in and out of search- light beams over the Suffolk coast.

the

The Blenheim gunner hit enemy with two bursts of bullets

SUBMARINE SUNK BY BOMBS

London, To-day.

An Italian submarino was the Mediterranean sighted in yesterday by two R.A.F. fight- They radio-ed their base and a Blenheim bomber camo streaking out, to drop several bombe all around it.

ers.

British naval craft which later

arrived on the scene reported that the submarine had been Bunk-Router,

AIR RAIDS RENEWED LAST NIGHT

London, To-day.

The Air Ministry announces that at midnight, enemy aircraft crossed the coast at many points the along the whole length of East Coast.

A

Warnings were sounded at score of different points In Eng land as well as in an area on tho east coast of Bcotland.

Searchlights are searching the skles for the raiders and fighter planes have been sent up.-Reu-- ter.

250 BOMBS ON BREMEN IN TEN MINUTES

London, To-day.

THE AIR MINISTRY ANNOUNCES that oil supply centres, railway marshalling yards, power sta- tions and rail communications in many parts of north-west Germany and the Rhineland were at- tacked on Tuesday night by heavy bomber squa- drons of the R.A.F.

and put his port engine out of Targets near Hamburg, Bremen, Frankfurt, Essen,

action.

Although the Blenheim's petrol

tank was hlt, the pilot managed to bring his aircraft safely back Its base.

to

At three a.m., R.A.F. fighters

at-

tacked a Heinkel bomber caught by

Castrop, Sterkrade and, Hanover were heavily bombed in the face of strong opposition from anti-aircraft guns and searchlight batteries of the ground defence systems.

a searchlight over Kent. Trying to At Bremen, more than 250 bombs were dropped

some

escape, the Heinkel jettisoned thirty small bombs before it was shot Three members down off Margate,

and

of its crew were taken prisoner,

but

People in Cambridgeshire villages watched three Germen airmen

de-

over

Garman 'planes flew Thames Estuary town for hours and a hospital there had its fed by an R.A.F. fighter. They and first test of working while

bombs other German airmen whose aircraft

were dropping In the vicinity. With had been shot down were made pri- one exception, everyone was magni-soners in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and

Kent.-British Wireless. ficent,

within 10 minutes, causing heavy explosions among oil tanks and starting numerous explo- 'sions.

the

railway junctions and supply trains.

Goods Trains Hit

Three goods trains were hit by

Hamburg was subjected to a series the Rhineland and Ruhr as their ob- yards, a scend in the moonlight by parachute of raids which began shortly after Jectives attacked marshalling several after their Heinkel had been destroy-midnight and lasted until near dawn.

Salvos of bombs repeatedly strad- dled a large oil depot near the docks, and fires kindled by earlier attack- ers became so widespread that blaze could be seen by our home-bombs at Soest, while a fourth, be- 'ward alrcraft as they crossed the

German coast 80 miles distant. At Castrop, to the nort-west of Dort- mund, high explosive bombs fell on a petroleum refinery. Flames were im- mediately seen to break out and after one raider had left the target, the tail gunner, looking back, saw a huge ex- plosion take place.

of the

Nurses, doctors and the whole hos- pital staff kept calm, some nurses going round to

the various

wards, calming the patients, some of whom were very ill-Reuter.

Pipeline Fire

London, To-day.

GARDEN RD. ACCIDENT

Mr. Oswald

Cedric

The Air Ministry states further re-Womack, of No. 461, East, ports of Tuesday night's air raids on The Peak, was summoned Britain confirm that although a large number of enemy aircraft were em- before Mr. H. G. Sheldon, ployed and many bombs were drop- K.C., this morning, for ob- ped, little damage was done.

Several R.A.F. aerodromes were at- tacked without success but some dam- age was done by a bomb which hit a. pipeline leading to an oil whart on the Thames Estuary. This caused a fire which was soon extinguished.

As far as can be ascertained, ca- sualties total 12 killed and 30 injured.

-Reuter.

Moonlight's Ald

Systematic Attacks Storage tanks at Misburg, close to also systematically Hanover, were structing a Police Officer in bombed. Garden Road on June 12.

In

A direct hit on a large building

to have been

a power-house, re-

lieved to have been loaded with muni- tions, was struck by three bombs. Ex- plosions at once broke out among the waggons.

Other military objectives attacked during the night included the power atation at Shilau, In Hamburg, and a Targe munition works at Cologne, which was set alight and left with flames blazing several hundred feet high-Router.

TOMMY GUNS FOR BRITISH

ene centre of the target, belleved

suited in an explosion which was ARMY

Traffic-Inspector S. C. Saunders, said that at about 340 pm. on June 12, Police Constable D97, was at the Junction of Lower Albert Road and Garden Road.

Defendant was standing at the bus. stop near the Volunteer Headquarters, A bus came down Garden Road with the "Bus Full" sign showing and continued without stopping Defen- dant then went across the road and talked to the constable in English Later, he snatched the stick from the constable and began directing the traf- dd. When the constable snatched the stick back, defendant continued direct- ing the trane using his umbrella. Fighter Command pilot who || When the constable stood in front, had his frat success shortly before of him, defendant poked the constable one-a wwhile patrolling over the with the umbrella.

Bright midsummer moonlight helped the RAF. Fighter Command and the, A. A. defences. The majority of the enemy aircraft brought down, most of them Heinkel 1118, crashed in the areas of East Anglia and Kent, some falling on" land, some just off the coast.

Thames Lotus

a twin-engined 1⠀⠀ Defendant was fined $100.

felt by the crew of the aircraft Ing 10,000 feet above.

Here, too, fierce fires which broke out could be seen by the raiding crews long after they had left the target area

London, To-day.

Mr. Herbert Morrison, Minister of Supply, was asked in the Commons yesterday whether he would ⠀⠀ fake steps to purchase from the United Another power house le thought to States large numbers of sub-me- have bach destroyed in the course of Chine-guns known as tommy guns, and an attack on oll tanky at Sterkrade; also manufacture them in this coun- north of Dulsberg, where the British | try.

und

bombers-prèmed home theirānat.. Mr. Morrison. sald steps had been taok despite intense ti-airoraft | taken in this matter. fire from many powerful batterise altuated ro the Bħall" splinters · pleroad and Stusola ONG

Several other sections of night ra ers with railway communications

He also had already. In hand the matter of the manufacture, on an ngu tensive scale of small hand gr

for use- nst invaders from the air and also beavy hand grenades for use against tanks.