Evening star., 1941-04-05
Big Bombs StraddIe
Z Nazi BattIeships,
British Declare
German Airmen Attack
Bristol Port for Hours;
R. A. F. Hits Ruhr
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LONDON, April 5.-The Air Min
istry declared today that sticks of
heavy bombs straddled the German
battleships Scharnhorst and Gneise-
nau in British attack on BreSt last
night.
German bombers were active. too,
attacking the oft-bombed west coast
port of Bristol for hours last night
and early today.
A communiQue said that besides
Brest, Oil stores at Rotterdam and
industrial targets in the Ruhr also
were bombed by the R. A. F.
The attack on BreSt, 49th of the
war, was the third since Sunday.
when the British first reported the
presence of the big German battle
wagons in the NaZi-occupied French
port.
Bombed From Low Levels.
"The ships could be clearly identi-
fed in the moonlight and the attack
was pressed home with great reSolu-
tion,' the Air Ministry communique
said. Some of our aircraft bombed
from very low levels and good results
are reported.
Sticks of heavy bombs were seen
to straddle both ships.
Near one of them a large fire
broke out and other fires were
started among stores of oil and
warehouses"
In daylight attacks yesterday, the
ministry added, a naval auxiliary
was left sinking off the French
coast after British bombing attack
and mineSWeepers were machine
gunned.
Bristol Raid Termed Heavy"
The Bristol raid was described
there as heavy but not one of our
biggest"
Damage to industrial establish
ments and a number of casualties,
including two dead, were acknoWl-
edged as the results of bomb and
machine gun attack today by a
single raider on a Northeast Scot
land coast town.
Bristol reported only one person
killed and two seriously wounded.
The British said damage was no
where extensive"
London had one brief alert which
lifted before 10 pm, but the city
completed its 18th consecutive bomb
less night.
A communique said the Nazi night
raiders dropped a few explosives
near the Thames Estuary and the
East Anglian coast, but few casual
ties were reported there.
The German planes, arriving at
intervals of two or three minutes
in their main assault on Bristol,
bucked terrific anti-aircraft bar
rage which led a witness to call it
the "noisest raid Of the war" in that
area.
Scores of Villages Targets.
Scores of villages and hamlets
in nearby Somerset and Gloucester
shire also were targets of Nazi
bombs.
Attacking in bright moonlight,
the LuftWaffe encountered such
terrific anti-aircraft barrage here
that some were reported to have
failed to penetrate to the town and
dropped their bombs instead in
nearby woods and fields. British
fighter planes joined in challenging
the raiders.
EyeWitnesses told of seeing one
NaZi craft make several Attempts to
get through the barrage only to be
hit by an anti-aircraft shell and
plunge to earth in flames.
Loads of Fire Bombs Dropped.
1.-THE raiders couldn't find their
targets due to the prompt work of
the fire fighters" a witness said
They extinguished the incendiaries
as soon as they dropped. Load after
load of fire bombs were showered
down in fruitless attempts to get
fires going"
The f1re-f1ghters stopped their
work momentarily to cheer when
the searchlights spotted one bomber
and anti-aircraft shells brought it
down in flames. Another plane
was reported shot down by a night
fighter and two of the crew cap
tured.
One Nazi raider raked the towns
streets with machine-gun fire, but