Evening star., 1940-12-09
Great Fires Started
In Raid on Bordeaux,
British Report
Dusseldorf Area
Targets Also Declared
Attacked by Bombers
p. tie Associated Press.

p! tie Associated Press.
LONDON, Dec. 9.-A great fire was
started by British night air raiders
among buildings between two of the
dock basins in the German-held
French port of Bordeaux, the Air
Ministry news service said today.
This was part of farfiung British
air attacks last night in which, the
Air Ministry said, R. A. F. bombers
also raided industrial and military
targets in the Dusseldorf area of
Germany, the submarine base at the
French Atlantic port of Lorient, the
harborS of Brest. Flushing. Dun
kerque and Gravelines and several
enemy airdromes."
Bordeaux Heavily Attacked"
A bulletin amplifying the COM
munique said Bordeaux was heavily
attacked" by planes of the coastal
command and the raids on Brest and
Lorient were the second within "a
hours.
British bomber pilots returning
from the raid on Dusseldorf, re-
peated target of recent r. A. F.
forays, said concentrated attack"
was made on the German city and
great destruction" observed.
The Air Ministry news service
quoted one flyer as saying, I'VE
clouted Dusseldorf good and hard
Gan Associated Press corre-
spondent, flown from Berlin to
Dusseldorf today in Reichs-
marshal Hermann Wilhelm
Goerings plane, said he saw no
evidence, either from the air or
the ground, that Germany's Sec
ond most important steel center
had been crippled by British
bombs Saturday and Sunday
nights)
Shower of Crimson Sparks.
"At Lorient," the news service said,
sticks of bombs were distributed
across docks and storehouses and one
bomb burst threw up a shower of
crimson sparks.
"A great blue flash was seen, too,
after salvo of bombs hit drydocks.
"Brest was lit up soon after the
raid began by the flare of burning
dockside building. The roof fell in
while the attack still was in progress
and pilots overhead could see the
flames reflected in the water"
Other bombs, the Air Ministry
said, struck around the military port,
the naval barracks and drydocks.
The ministry said the crew of one
plane bombing Dusseldorf from
several thousand feet up actually
was able to see flames streaming
from the windows" of blast fur
naces and steel works known to
manufacture railroad and shipping
equipment.
Steel Works Blasted.
1t pictured three large fires and
many small ones as following the
first bomb bursts and continued:
Our aircraft then crowded in,
dropping their heavy bombs &C
curately on the steel works and
pelting the entire area with hum
dreds of incendiaries.
Flames blazed up in one factory
long after our aircraft had gone
away. Two minutes after one air
craft had discharged it's load of
incendiaries, three violent explo-
sions were observed among fires
started.
Pilots stated that from 80 to 20
miles away it was plain that many
Of the fires had taken firm hold"
The report also said one British
plane, after bombing the steel
works, dive-bombed a supply train
and machine-gunned it from q
height of so feet.
Two Planes Missing.
The ministry said two British
planes were missing after the at
tacks. From Berlin it was reported
that two British bombers we're
downed in the Western Reich, where
several persons were killed.)
Saturday night British bombers
attacked Lorient, Antwerp, Dun
kerque, Calais and Boulogne and
pounded fiercely at Dusseldorf.
The biggest fire British flyers have
seen during the war was reported
started in the bombing of Duessel-
dorf, described as having been as
destructive As the all-night attack
on the same city last Wednesday.