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attacked military objectives in the centre of the city and a large building was set on fire. The Krupp works at Essen were attacked on three nights of the week, the attack, on the night of the 9th 10th, being particularly heavy and effective. Fires were started, which were burning fiercely when the aircraft left the area.

40. The Naval Docks at Wilhelmshaven were attacked twice. On the first occasion fires were caused among buildings, and on the second the Tirpitz was attacked by sixteen heavy bombers. No direct hits were seen, but there were several near misses, one by a 2,000-lb. bomb. A heavy attack was made on the Bremen shipyards on the night of the 8th/9th October. All the bombs fell in the target area and there was a direct hit on a row of warehouses.

41. The aluminium works at Lunen, Ludwigshaven, Cologne and Grevenbroich, the nickel works at Hanau, near Frankfurt, and the Fokker aircraft factory at Amsterdam were all successfully attacked, as were several other industrial targets and aerodromes.

Great Britain.

42. During this period there was a reduction in the scale of operations carried out by the German Air Force, probably because of adverse weather conditions. On three days of the week there were no attacks by enemy formations, but instead there was a fairly continuous succession of raids by single aircraft. On the days which were fine operations were comparable with those of the pre- ceding week, and on the 5th and 7th October over 500 aircraft operated over this country, fighters providing very large escorts for the long-range bombers. Fighter formations by themselves were also sent on patrols over South-East England, and often covered attacks by small formations and single aircraft. Fighters have also been used for bombing and their employment in this way may be extended. Enemy formations are showing an increasing disinclination to press home attacks when intercepted, and the head-on attacks of our fighters are proving particularly effective. A heavy attack was made on the Westland aircraft works at Yeovil on the 7th October, but no damage was done.

43. By night the scale of attack was maintained at a fairly constant level of about 200 aircraft, except on the nights of 3rd/4th and 6th/7th October, when it was low owing to bad weather. London was again the chief target, but attacks have continued on the Liverpool-Manchester area and, on a lesser scale, on East Anglia, the Midlands and the South-Eastern counties.

44. Several aerodromes and naval air stations were attacked, some by day and some by night. Damage was slight, and is referred to in the Home Security Situation.

45. During the week Fighter Command have flown an average of approximately twenty-five sorties each night and a total of 776 patrols, involving 3,464 sorties by day. Details of casualties are given in Appendix V.

North Sea and Coastal.

46. During the week 268 anti-invasion and anti-submarine patrols and photographic and offensive reconnaissances, involving 418 sorties, have been flown by Coastal Command, and escorts were provided for 116 convoys.

47. On the 5th October an Anson of the Coastal Command directed two minesweepers to the sinking vessel Ottoland and two boat-loads of the crew were rescued. On the same day three Blenheims attacked a 6,000-ton merchant vessel off the coast of Norway with bombs and machine-gun fire. One of three Hudsons which successfully attacked two armed merchant vessels off Horns Reef on the 6th October was itself hit by machine-gun bullets and set on fire; the pilot. however, continued to attack and released a bomb, but the fire spread rapidly and the aircraft dived into the sea. On the night the 9th-10th two destroyers were successfully attacked at Brest as already described.

48. On the 7th October a Blenheim on reconnaissance in the English Channel encountered three enemy fighters and shot down one of them and on the following day three Blenheims, while searching for a missing aircraft, shot down two enemy bombers off St. Catherine's Point.

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