Evening star., 1940-08-25
London
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the alarms were the longest of the
war. In one northeast town. Il
bombs fell at intervals of a few
yards. setting gas main afire. Nc
casualties were reported. but there
were some cases of shock.
A joint Air and Home Security
Ministries communique this morn
ing announced:
Last night, considerable mum
Der of enemy aircraft. operating for
the most part Singly, dropped bombs
in many districts in England. in
cluding the London area. and in
South Wales.
"Anti-aircraft defenses were In
action at many points. Fighter
aircraft went up to intercept. and
1t is known that one enemy bomber
was shot down.
In one part of London bombs
caused fires which damaged some
commercial property. The fire
brigade, assisted by auxiliary fire
service units. quickly brought the
fires under control In other dis
tricts damage was done to dwelling
houses.
According to reports so far. re-
ceived from London and other parts
OF the country the number of
casualties is small"
One NaA bomber was officiallv re-
ported downed-a Heinkel III
which was shot flaming into the sea
after 50-mile chase by a Young
Hurricane pilot who recently had
been awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross by King George.
Battle Continues on Past Midnirht
The third air raid alarm was
sounded at 1l:35 pm. '5:35 pm,
E. S. IT, last night. The battle of
the skies continued ON past mid
night before the all-clear signal was
given. 1t followed closely on mass
attacks on the great naval base at
Portsmouth and the bombardment
of Dover by long range guns.
(The censor declined to pass the
time the all-clear signal was given.
The first indication, however,
that the clear signal had been
sounded was contained in dis
patch timed in London at 800
am. 1920 pm. E. S. IT,, which
was three hours and As minutes
after the alarm soundedD
From the roof of the Associated
Press Building. staff members could
hear explosions and see a fire. Occa-
sionally they also could see flashes
like star shells.
The Germans spread out as far
as Wales in the night raiding
Bombs were dropped near village
but anti-aircraft fire drove of the
enemy and there were no casualties.
Nazi dive bombers were partici-
pating in the London attack, drop
ping scream bombs as the battle
wore on.
There was no immediate indica-
ton how many planes were used
in the third attack on London, but
the Air Ministry said the Germans
had used 500 bombers and fighters
against Portsmouth and 300 bombers
and fighters had been used for yes
terdays assaults on Southeast Eng
land.
Bursts OF anti-aircraft fire caused
great excitement among home going
crowds in the London area. The sky
was criss-crossed with the beams
of searchlights and the reports of
gunfire and explosions could be
heard.
20 Planes Blast Portsmouth.
A column of more than 20 German
bombers smashed at Britains naval
base and city Of Portsmouth last
night after the long-range assaults
all over Southern England.
The raiders over Portsmouth
were driven of from their military
targets, the British said, and then
loosed their bombs indiscriminately
on a residential and working class
section Of the city, causing an unde-
termined number Of casualties.
A movie theater was reported