Six planes crashed at Korsør and into the Storebælt

Flak active for three hours     From our special correspondent    KORSØR, WEDNESDAY EVENING

Korsør has had 78 air-raid warnings but hardly any earlier alerts have made so strong an impression on people as the one in the night between Tuesday and
Wednesday. The flak was active without stop for three hours. No less than six planes have been seen crashing on land and into the Storebælt. One air crash took
place in the outskirts of the town, where the bomb load exploded with two tremendous bangs that broke thousands of windows in the town.

5-6 planes over the town

Just after the sirens had sounded at 23:38 noise of engines was heard, and 5-6 planes swept in from the west at a very low height. An eye witness relates that it
looked as if they were heading for the cranes in the harbour. The cranes were silhouetted against the clear moonlight.

The first air crash happened a few moments later. One of the planes had been hit by flak. One wing was burning and in great curves the aircraft flew in over the
Halskov Reef which stretches out like a tentacle north of the fairway to Korsør Harbour. Apparently it attempted to land. Suddenly its nose pointed down.
A column of fire erupted and in the next second two tremendous detonations were heard. The plane had crashed into a field at Revvej.

Smallholding hit
It was only a few metres from the smallholding Strandgaarden, which was pelted with fragments of bombs. The residents were sleeping, but nobody was hurt.
As soon as they had dressed they saw that the house end was burning. A little later the farm burst into flames.

About a dozen people injured
Also a number of other houses near the site had been hit by fragments of bombs or pieces of the plane. About a dozen people had been slightly injured, but only a
few of them had to be taken to hospital.

However, for the time being a number of houses were unlivable and as it might be presumed that a number of unexploded bombs were in the area, it was decided to evacuate about 200 people. If they were unable to find accommodation on their own they were taken to Halskov School. Here the glass roof of the assembly hall
had been broken. Some of the evacuees were permitted to return this afternoon, but Strandgaarden and Strandpavillonen (Strandhotel), which is the former holiday
house of the Union of Electricians, which has recently been converted into a hutment for homeless people, are totally unlivable.

Rescue workers in a hail of bullets
The heavy shooting continued while the rescue work started. More waves of planes came and a violent duel between the planes and the flak batteries developed.
There was a hail of machine gun bullets over the rescue workers who time and again had to take cover in the ditches.

The two other crashes were at Kongsmark (STI R9261) and Drøsselbjerg (HAL HR722). These planes also crashed, burning but without explosions. In none of the
cases any people on board seem to have been rescued. Today no less than 11 bodies of English airmen, perished in the violent battles last night, have been taken
to the Chapel of Rest in Stillinge.
(4 coffins from HAL HR722 at Drøsselbjerg and 7 coffins from STI R9261 at Kongsmark were taken from Kirke Stillinge to Svinø Churchyard.
Helge Christiansen, who knows about the plane at Kongsmark in detail, has seen that piece of information.)

Parts of aircraft scattered over 7-8 acres
The crash site of the first plane was totally sealed off last night, and the closing off is strictly maintained. Your correspondent had a tour across the field tonight.
Pieces of the crashed plane were scattered over an area of 7-8 acres. There was a crater with a diameter of 7 metres in the middle of the field. The plane had crashed
here and its two bombs had exploded here.

The roof of Strandgaarden had collapsed and walls had been pushed in. All furniture had been broken. Not one window was left unbroken. The telephone poles along
the road had broken and the road was torn up.

Not as bad as in Finland
Manufacturer Næsted’s villa in 3 storeys on a hilltop in the sealed off area was also severely damaged. All windows facing the Belt were broken and in the living
rooms broken glass was spread like powder over the carpets.

We had gone to bed, the manufacturer relates in an interview. The bedroom is on the 1st floor. We had not rolled the blind down and from my bed I saw the plane
crash. A column of fire erupted and two tremendous bangs rang out, the house shook and an infernal noise was heard when all the windows were broken. The air
pressure was so powerful that a door between two rooms in the house flew open and the door post was shattered. A big picture over the bed fell down, but
fortunately neither my wife nor I was hurt.

The manufacturer and his family were among the evacuees, but this afternoon the family was permitted to return. In the first place it was believed that a time bomb
was in an outbuilding, but it turned out to be the shaft of the propeller. It had flown through a window, had splintered a wardrobe and gone through a wall before in
finally ended on the cooker. A young girl was sleeping in her room, but she was not hurt.

Yes, it was a terrible night, but fortunately no human lives were lost, the manufacturer says.

But it was not nearly as bad as in Finland, says a little boy cutting into the conversation. It was the Finnish boy Raimond, 8 years old, who has stayed at the manufacturer’s for a year. (One of the War Refugee Children) 
                                                                                                                                                                                                              Clement.