More than 200 British bombers at-London, Spet. 16. tacked German ports last night. Shipyards, factories and railways were bombed for some hours and many large fires were started.
Cuxhaven, at the mouth of the Elbe, on which Hamburg stands, and the naval base of Wilhelmshaven were visited, but the principal objective was the port of Hamburg itself.
Strategically, placed in relation to both Germany's eastern and western fronts, these ports are the fountainhead of German activity in the Battle of the Atlantic, besides feeding, via the Kiel Canal, German land, naval and air forces in the Baltic Sea before Leningrad Docks at Lo Havre on the French channel coast were also heavily attacked.
This mornings Air Ministry communique states:
"Shipyards, factories and railways at Hamburg were attacked for some hours last night by a powerful force of aircraft of the Bomber Command. Many large fires were started. Other German ports, including Bremen, Cuxhaven and' Wilhelmshaven, were also bombed.
"Docks at Lo Havre were heavily attacked by another force of Bomers.
Aircraft of the Fighter Command during the night continued their attacks on enemy aerodromes in occupied territory, "From these operations, nine aircraft of the Bomber Command are missing."—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.