Evening star., 1940-08-31
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
BERLIN, Aug. 3l-British war
planes bombed the center of Berlin
for the first time in history early to-
day with a rain of explosive and
incendiary bombs, wrecking several
apartment houses and business
buildings. starting scattered fires in
the southeast section and damaging
the big Siemens Schuckert electrical
equipment factory.
The 100000 residents Of the
metropolitan area huddled in under
ground shelters for an hour and 81
minutes as the British planes, strik-
ing under cover of darkness, carried
out their most extensive assault on
the German capital since the start
of the war.
DNB, the official news agency, an
nounced that German bombers sue
cessfully raided" several Royal Air
Force airports north of London this
morning. The planes few over Lon
don repeatedly, it was stated.
The German high commands daily
communique said 98 British planes
were destroyed yesterday, while Ger
many lost "a, and unoffcially an
additional So British planes and At
barrage balloons we're said to have
been shot down today. In the same
period, these informed sources said,
the Germans lost six aircraft.
British claims for yesterday
g were 81 Nazi planes destroyed to
Is British planes LOST
Three Ships Declared Sunk.
The high command also declared
three British merchant ships, total
ing 29, 900 tons, one of them q 10000
ton tanker, were sunk yesterday OF
the Hebrides.
In their raids yesterday on Britain
the German air force, according to
the high command, bombed several
airports, hangers and barracks, and
last night attacked port facilities
and armament plants in Central
England, as well as oil tanks and
docks at the mouth of the Thames.
The communique acknowledged
that r. A. F. planes had bombed the
center Of Berlin. but held that the
damage was trivial.
Berlin bombers have been en- route
to England since early this morning,
informed sources revealed. They
said no detailed reports were avail
able at present. These sources said
Liverpool was the principal objective
of Nazi bombing raids during the
night.
They said several Luftwaffe units
participated in the night attacks.
Seven Foot Hole Blasted.
One high explosive bomb fell in
the courtyard of the fire department
headquarters on Linden street,
blasting 7-foot hole in a concrete
floor and smashing windows in the
neighborhood.
(The fire department head
quarters on Linden street is only
four blocks east of the Wilhelm
strasse, on which the Reichs-
chancellery, the Foreign Office
and other important government
buildings are located0
Authorities said damage to estab-
lishments which might be regarded
as military objectives was extremely
small.
A number of bombs also fell in
the southeast section of the city,
causing large fires. This was the
section bombed Thursday morning,
when 10 civilians were killed and
% injured.
The raiders were greeted with an
ear-spitting barrage from hundreds
of anti-aircraft guns as they roared
over the capital in several groups.
Tracer bullets cut arcs through the
darkness and searchlights stabbed
the sky.
Two incendiary bombs crashed
through the roof of tiny Evangelical
Christus Church in Diefenbach
street in the southeast section, start
(See pEPTJN pace A.Al