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the town. Aerodromes at Berka, where forty aircraft were later found abandoned, and Jedabya (90 miles south of Benghazi) were also attacked.
Dodecanese.
43. Raids were carried out on three nights against aerodromes in Rhodes and at least fifteen enemy aircraft were burnt out. Buildings were hit at Calato, Maritza and Kattavia, violent explosions following the attacks.
Italian East Africa.
In support of our military offensive, harassing attacks were maintained in the Keren-Asmara sectors. Enemy troops, mechanised transport, railway stations, trains, bridges and other targets were repeatedly bombed and machine- gunned with marked success.
Two Italian fighters were destroyed in combat over Asmara on the 5th, and on the 8th an encounter between two Hurricanes and five Italian aircraft resulted in the destruction of one and probably two enemy fighters.
On the 9th Italian fighters machine-gunned our aircraft on three landing grounds at Agordat (Eritrea), destroying eight and damaging two.
45.
In Abyssinia our aircraft machine-gunned the aerodrome at Bahar Dar, three Italian aircraft being destroyed together with a quantity of petrol. Addis Ababa aerodrome buildings and ground positions at Dessie were attacked by Blenheims from Aden, which also set on fire eight enemy aircraft on Allomata aerodrome.
At Afmadu, in Italian Somaliland, aircraft of the South African Air Force dropped six tons of bombs on military targets and machine-gunned enemy positions.
Air Intelligence.
South-East Europe.
47. The German Air Force is consolidating its position in Roumania, and an operational command previously located in France is going to Roumania. Up to 500 aircraft will probably be deployed in the country and ready for operations by the 1st March. Preparations in Bulgaria are probably also well advanced, but the available aerodrome capacity is smaller than in Roumania.
China.
48. Japanese operations against the Burma Road are apparently now meeting with increasing success.
447
HOME SECURITY SITUATION.
General.
By Day.
49. Very little bombing has occurred by day.
On the morning of the 7th February a low level attack was made on Fraserburgh, where a gasholder was fired and a number of U.X.B's. were dropped. That afternoon the swing bridge and harbour works at Lowestoft were damaged and eight people killed.
•
50. During daylight this week a few bombs were dropped harmlessly in the Orkneys, Cornwall and the Eastern Counties and there has been occasional machine-gun fire. On the 6th, 9th and 12th February no bombs were dropped.
On the 12th February seven houses were seriously damaged by enemy shell fire at and near Ramsgate, but there were no casualties.
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