Evening star., 1942-05-04
R. A. F. Attacks
LeHavreAfter
Hamburg Raid
Six Germun Planes
FeIIed, With Loss
Of Three Fighters

LONDON, May 4.-R. A. F.
bombers and fighter planes made
a successful sweep over the LIE
Havre area of Northern France
today after a Furnishing night
raid on Hamburg, British au-
thoritieS announced.
This morning squadrons of our
fighters escorted small formation
of Boston bombers which attacked
detectives at LIE Havre," the an
nouncement said.
Enemy fighters attempted to in
terfere and five of them were de-
stroyed by our fighters, which also
shot down German bomber which
they encountered.
"All our bombers returned safely
from this operation but three of our
fighters are missing"
Exeter Raided Again.
The day raiders crossed over the
Channel at such a height ground
watchers could not spot them, but
the throb of their motors could be
heard for a long period.
German night bombers retaliated
for the Hamburg attack with a heavy
assault on Exeter, in Southwestern
England, but Britain's night sharp
shooters downed five German planes
over Britain and two others over
airdromes in Occupied France dur
ing the night. About 80 German
planes were said to have been in
action, giving the r. A. F. night
fighters a bag of almost one out of
four.
This afternoon six German
fighter planes bombed and machine
gunned a town on the southeast
coast of England. There were casu-
alties and number of buildings
were hit.
First Raid Since April IL.
The raid on Hamburg was the
first since the night of April II when
a strong force of Britain's most for
midable bombers-Stirlings, We'll
lingtons, Manchesters and Hamp-
dens-spread many fires. Selection
of the great northern port and naval
base as target underlined Britain's
growing attention on keeping Nazi
seapower crippled and land-locked.
Renewal of the assaults on much
bombed Hamburg, despite poor fly
ing weather over Germany, came
within "a hours of a joint Admir-
alty-Air Ministry announcement
that three of Germany's most potent
war vessels have been knocked out
of the war for some time to come.
These are the 26,000-ton sister
battleships Gneisenau and Scharn-
horst and the 10000-ton cruiser
Prinz Eugen which dashed home
through the English Channel from
Brest last February IL.
Besides damage suffered then,
the announcement said, the battle
ships probably have suffered addi-
tional damage from air-Sown British
mines and R. A. F. attacks on Kiel;
the Prinz Eugen by an attack off
Kristiansund, Norway, by the sub
marine Trident.
Now, the British disclose, the
Gneisenau is at the former Polish
port of Gdynia, the Scharnhorst
still in drydock at Kiel and the
Prinz Eugen at Trondheim, Norway.
ST. Nazaire Base Blasted.
The Air Ministry announced that
its bombers left large fires in Ham
burg while other bombers dropped
explosives on the Nazi submarine
base at st. Nazaire, from which
U-boats 60 out on their long raid
ing expeditions in the Atlantic.
Mines also were reported laid in
enemy waters.
Coastal command planes damaged
two enemy ships off the coast OF
Norway and bombed objectives on
the coast, it was said.
The Air Ministry said five bomb
ers we're missing from the nights
operations.
Other R. A. F. bombers raided
Kristiansand, on the southern tip
of Norway. The Air Ministry said
a great explosion, believed to be the
detonation of an ammunition dump,
was heard there.
Six fires visible for SO miles were
lit by the bombers Other bright
fires were left blazing on the Island
of Oderoen, where the airdrome and
German strongpoint were hit, the
ministry said.
The ships which the communique
reported bombed were said to be
lying lashed together on a fjord "as
one was refueling from the other
the pilot, whose bombs brought a
billow of smoke from the vessel,
said.
Marseille Has Alarm.
Mysteriously, air alarms sounded
and ground defenses went into &C
ton before dawn this morning in
the French port of Marseille and
the great naval base of Toulon,