The Wilmington morning star., 1940-06-19
AIR ALARMS SOUNDED
German Bombers Downed
During Attack On Sew
eral Eastern Counties
DAMAGE IS LIG H 7
BRITAIN

LONDON, June 18-LR)-Nazi air
raiders scattered bombs up n
down the English east coast In a
midnight-to-dawn attack today, los
ing four of their planes to the merry
British defense in a foretaste OF the
expected "battle for England"
From the Thames Estuary to
Yorkshire, the German bombers
ranged, seriously injuring one man
and damaging several houses in an
east coast town. One empty house
was demolished.
The British press association said
that the bombs dropped. on the
Thames-bottleneck of British ship
ping-exploded harmlessly in mar
shes.
BOmbers DOWned
B~omb-roused sleepers in Essex
cheered hoarsely as one German
raider was shot down and burst in
to flames neal a main highway.
Another bomber vas sent crashing
into wreckage in Norfolk. Up and
down the coast .searchlights, anti-air-
craft fire, the thud of bombs and the
roar of planes made the night bright
and noisy with the fight.
Raid warnings lasted for nearly
four hours at some east coast cen.
tiers, and dawn was breaking as peo-
L VII cfroo bod oI1{ If chnlfare
There were indications that the
Royal Air Force might have struck
an almost simultaneous blow at Ger
many.
British sources said the Bremen
and Hamburg radio stations were
suddenly silenced last night-a pre-.
caution usually taken to prevent
raiding planes from riding the
BEAM to an objective.
Watchers in east Anglia, which
includes Essex and Norfolk coun.
ties, let out a roar of cheers when
they saw a German bomber plum
met to earth and crash in the fam
ing climax of a brightly searchlight.
ed sky-fght with a British fighter.
Many Watch Battle
People for miles around could see
the battle in the glare of search
lights which held the raider until it
struck the earth.
Bombs dropped neal an east coast
village injured one man seriously
and demolished an empty house and
damaged several others.
\ The authoritative British press as
ISOLATION said bombs dropped on the
Thames Estuary "fell on the mar
shes and did no damage whatso.
ever"
Hundreds of searchlights flashed
on at the first alarm, and caught
several planes which twisted and
turned in the beams as the curtain
of fire crept up on them.
Anti-aircraft batteries were in al.
most continuous action for mora
than two hours.
Guns Are Active
Anti-aircraft guns kept I'D a
drumfire against the Thames Estuary
raiders aiming their bombs at crowd.
ed docks and vital shipping. Tho
thunder Of exploding bombs cor.
tinued until after midnight despite
the rain of anti-aircraft shells.
Planes were heard over many
towns, and air raid sirens shrieked.
What appeared to be flares were
dropped by planes before explosions
shook houses in Norfolk.
Houses were shaken also by
bombs near the east town.
The air ministry announced today
that the Royal Air Force inflicted
heavy damage in raids on military
detectives at Hamburg last night.
Another German plane crashed on
the Norfolk coast after British fight.
ers went up.
The raiders appeared in Essex,
Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Lincoln.
shire, Northhamptonshire, and
Yorkshire as well as along the
Thames.
High explosive and incendiary
bombs were dropped over the
Thames, crowded with it's docks and
vital shipping detectives, and the
responding gunfre was described -
terrific