Heaviest casualties were reported in eastern coastal ports, where bombs fell on houses closely grouped together, Material destruction was reported to have been small, with private homes and farms suffering the greatest damage, according to official sources, The fact thay only a comparatively small number of bombs was reported to have been dropped during the Nazi raids was interpreted by military quarters here as confirmation of the theory that the flights were merely for reconnaissance purposes.
The raids began shortly after 11 p. Tuesday and by dawn yesterday air raid alarms had sent residents of Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Cambrigeshire, Lincolnshire, Northhamptons hire, Yorkshire and Lancashire scurrying to shelters. ive Waves of Planes The air raid alarms, the longest since the beginning of the war, continued for an average of three and one half hours in nine countries.
"The number of planes participate ing in the raids was not certain, but observers in Yorkshire alone counted five successive waves of bombers within an hour.
The anti-aircraft barrage, particularly in the vicinity of the Thames Estuary, was understood to have been the heaviest since the beginning of hostilities.
A bomb fell on a garden in a Thames Estuary town and scores of windows and tiled roofs were result, In one town y of the Estuary two persons were reported killed and five wounded, (Continued on page 8, col. 2)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.