Evening star., 1940-08-02
b the Associated Press.

llOuIlSCu.
By the Associated Press.
LONDON, Aug. q Gripping
blows from British bombers on vital
German centers were reported au-
thoritatively today as give-and-take
air warfare still surged over the
English Channel.
British flyers, raining tons of steel
and explosives on more than 100
German cities and towns, an au-
thoritative British source said, have
laid the port of Hamburg almost
entirely in ruins and have scored
heavily on the docks and airplane
factories of Bremen and the COM
munications nerve center at Cologne
in the past three months.
British airmen we're asserted to
have made attacks on more than
1000 objectives in the last three
months-attacks of genuine weight
and importance"
Historic Places Hit.
Many of the places hammered by
the British in the air offensive are
Old World communities known to
thousands of tourists. These places
1t was asserted, have been converted
into military and industrial centers
vital to the military needs of Ger
many"
All attacks, this source said, were
planned with studious care with
the object of avoiding damage, if
possible, to towns and cities which
are non-military objectives."
The British air offensive has COW
cred objectives in enemy country
from Borkum, in the Frisian Islands,
off the extreme Northwest German
coast, in the North Sea, to Rugen
Island, in the Baltic Sea.
One German bomber was believed
by observers to have been brought
down in the sea off the northeast
coast of Scotland after a Nazi
squadron had dumped nine high ex-
plosive and 40 incendiary bombs
mostly on a golf course outside OF
town-this morning.
Eyewitnesses said they saw the
plane fall into the water after Brit
ish fighter planes had spattered it
with tracer bullets. No casualties
were reported from the German at
tack, although the bombs blasted
craters 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep.
Bombardment of a wireless sta
ton and crippling of German sup
ply ship in air operations off the
Norwegian coast were reported by
the Admiralty.
Daylight Raid on Cherbourg.
The Air Ministry said a success
ful' daylight raid had been made
also yesterday on the German-held
airport at Cherbourg, France. It
acknowledged, however. that three
of a strong force of coastal COM
mand warplanes failed to return.
On the other hand, the German
high command said "all eight"
British bombers were shot down
before they could reach their OBJ
Jective at Cherbourg.
A checkup on the effect on British
harbors of Nazi aerial bombardment
indicated that. for the most part,
they were intact.
Virtually the same answer came in
reports from Folkstone, Plymouth,
Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Liverpool and other ports. The
Nazis have made repeated raids;
there have been damages and cas-
ualties inland, but the water front
is unchanged.
Nevertheless, some of Britain s
busiest pre-war ports are virtually
closed and their normal business has
given way to war commerce.
Puzzled by Leafiet Raids.
Britons, wondering whether the
Nazi blitzkrieg would come soon
or at all-puzzled over a tabloid
leaflet raid by German bombers last
night. Some conjectured that Adolf
Hitler may be planning the slow
war of blockade instead of the
lightning tactics he has used before.
One Welsh town also was attacked
from the air last night. About half
a dozen bombs fell, causing slight
damage.
An armed merchant ship which
arrived at an Eastern Scottish port
today reported its guns brought
down two German torpedo planes
during night attack off Northeast
Scotland.
Industrial Ruhr Hit.
The r. A. F. has struck night
and day in the industrial Ruhr,
which corresponds somewhat to the
Pittsburgh area of the United States,
1t was said by authoritative sources.
Within a gigantic circle" they
said, I'VE have inflicted ire
parable damage on such places as
Duisberg, Dusseldorf, Essen and
Wesel" in this area as well as at
Dortmund which occupies posi-
tion of Importance in feeding the
German canal system.
Hamburg, with its oil refineries,
munitions factories and docks,
which are in the center of the city,
this source said, has been "pulver-
lied again and again."
At Leipzig, where a renowned
falr is held, there is huge power
station as well as industrial objec-
tives which have been bombed con-
stantly," he added.
At the medieval town of Werni-
gerode, favorite haunt of tourists,
the airport has been hammered by
British bombers.
Other favorite Royal Air Force OBJ
tectives have been the Kiel and
Wilhelmshaven naval bases.
Whether Germany chooses the
fast war of blitzkrieg or the slow
war of attrition, British leaders de-
clared, the nation is ready.
German airplanes, staging the
first leaf1et raid on England since
the outbreak Of the war, showered a
south coast port and a village in the
southwest area with four page tab
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