The following joint communiqué was issued by the Air Ministry and Ministry for Home Security last night.

“To-day, October 16, between 9 a.m. and 1.30 p.m., several German aircraft reconnoitred Rosyth. This afternoon, about half-past two, a series of bombing raids began. These were directed at the ships lying in the Forth, and were conducted by about a dozen machines.
All the batteries opened fire upon the raiders, and the Royal Air Force fighter squadron ascended to engage them.
“No serious damage was done to any of His Majesty’s ships. One bomb glanced off the cruiser Southampton, causing slight damage near her bow, and sank the Admirals barge and pinnace, which were moored empty alongside. This was the first hit which German aircraft have made during the war upon a British ship. There were three casualties on board the Southampton and seven on board the cruiser Edinburgh from splinters. Another bomb fell near the destroyer Mohawk, which was returning to harbour from convoy escort. This bomb burst on
the water, and its splinters caused 25 casualties to the men on the deck of the destroyer. Only superficial damage was caused to the vessel, which, like the others, is ready for sea.
On the other hand, four bombers at least out of the twelve or fourteen that were brought down, three of them by fighters of the RA.F.
“The first contact between R.A.F. machines and the enemy raiders took place off May Island at entrance to the Firth of Forth at 2.35 p.m, when two enemy aircraft’ were intercepted. ‘They were driven down by our aircraft from 4000 feet to within a few feet of the water, and chased out to sea. “Another enemy aircraft was engaged ten minutes later, over ,Dalkeith. . It fell in flames into the sea. Within quarter of an hour a sharp combat took place off Crail, and the second raider crashed into the sea. A third German aircraft was destroyed in the pursuit. “Two German aviators have been rescued by one of our destroyers. Of whom one has since died.
“No civilian casualties have been reported and none occurred in the Roya1 Air Force.”
The attack was presumably intended against Rosyth and the naval units. Enemy aircraft were first sighted at sea, east of the Forth, and were immediately engaged by fighter squadrons. The raiders, consisting of two squadrons, were broken up and engaged by fighter aircraft.
It is understood that the German bombers consisted of twin-engined Heinkel HE 111s, described recently in The Scotsman, and Dornier Do 17s.
The Forth Bridge, over which a train was passing at the time of the raid, was not damaged.
Three of the raiders were destroyed by the R.A.F one was brought down in the sea near Port Seton, another crashed in the sea off Crail, and a third was destroyed in the Pentland Hills. The fourth plane was brought down by anti-aircraft fire, crashing in flames behind a wood at North Queensferry.
There were no serious casualties among civilians or the R.A.F.
The passengers on the train which passed over the Forth bridge during the raid had a grandstand view of the bombers swooping down on either side and of the huge waterspouts leaping as their bombs fell into the water.
An amazing feature of the attack was that many places, including Edinburgh, sounded no air raid sirens, and people stood in The streets gazing up at aerial “dog fights” unaware that It was the real thing. Even officers of the defence forces were for a time under the impression that all the planes were British. One explanation of the absence of warning was that earlier there had been British bombing practice on the Forth.
So little disturbance was caused by the dramatic events over Edinburgh that most of the population were unaware until a late hour in the afternoon that anything out of the usual had happened. Gunfire was heard over the city, but as there was no air raid warning, it was concluded by most people that all that was taking place was by way of “practice.”