FACING THE STRAIN

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 235, 1 July 1944, Page 7

FACING THE STRAIN

Life In Southern England Under Flying Bombs

PEOPLE STILL CHEERFUL (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) LONDON, June 29. Mr. Fraser has praised the civilian morale in the face of the Here is a graphic story from the Daily Herald” which describes what is eOinb on daily in different parts of southern England. “‘Be quiet,’ shouts a rescue voider deep down in wreckage caused by a hying bomb. He flings his shovel aside, and his head disappears into a gap in a shattered wall. His cry is passed om Women wardens whose hands bleed as they tug at bricks and splinters ot wood pass it on. A man on the roof cups his hands to his mouth and echoes it. -tt reaches the incident officer, perched on a massive slab of battered •concrete. He raises his hands over his head and shouts, ‘No noise.’ Digging stops. It is quiet now. Life seems to be standing still. You can hear your heart thumping. We all listen. We press, our ears against the dusty rubble, listening, very faintly, we hear a voice saying: Ini alive. Can you get to me?’ “The rescue worker, white as a snowman in choking grey dust, croaks back, Can'vou see daylight?’ A storm, lamp is called for. It is poked down into a cavern that has been dug by shovels, spades, hands, even fingers. ‘Yes, I can see now,’ cries a man who has been buried under our feet for four hours. . “The noise ban is lifted, and. digging goes on feverishly. It stops again. Another voice has been heard. . Hus. time it is a woman of 81 crying faintly in another part of the wreckage. A doctor in a white helmet stamped ‘M.O.’ is lowered into the hole. When he comes out he says, ‘An old woman is'down there, verv much alive. She is sitting trapped by ‘her feet at the bottom of a wrecked staircase.’ _ .. “Very Good to Me.

“Down at the bottom of the hole is a woman of 65. The warden is clearing away the rubble with a bucket on the end of a rope to clear her. She says, ‘Thank you. You are very good to me. “A few yards away, rescuers have reached a young Scots girl. She was sitting at a table in a cafe. Her chair must have crumpled under her. She had been crouching on her knees for three hours, but a squad of toiling, sweating men who till wicket baskets with debris, pass them from man to man, and have got to her side. One hands her down a cup of tea. She talks to him cheerfully. This incident occurred when a flying bomb dived down at midday.and a cafe and other premises were buried under a mountain of twisted and torn brickwork and wood.”

These Hying bombs, while they do not hinder the war effort, have certainly brought the war right back to southern England. It is easy to imagine for yourselves that you are working or walking in the streets or in the kitchen, or shopping or sleeping. You hear the sirens begin to moan. You carry on, but hear a deep vibrating roar of engines which somehow always appears to be overhead. You wait, tensed, and if possible -take shelter. 1 Then, if you arc lucky, you hear the roar weaken and a, few moments later comes the explosion. You heave a sigh of relief and carry on till you hear the next bomb. They are about as popular as earthquakes’. There is also something uncanny about the mechanical inevitability of the flying bomb. Yet, as Mr. Fraser says, they have failed to .undermine the people's morale, which remains cheerful and buoyant.

BOMBED-OUT PEOPLE Visit By Their Majesties (Received June 30. 7 p.m.) LONDON, June 29. The King and Queen visited a rest centre in southern England for persons rendered homeless through flying bombs. The mayor of the area afterward told the “Daily Telegraph” that what most impressed their Majesties was the good spirit of the bombed-out people and the way they were taking it. The Home Secretary, Mr. Morrison, was asked in the House of Commons whether, to counter enemy propaganda, he would give weekly the total casualties caused by flying-bombs since this indiscriminate form of bombing started. Mr. Morrison replied that he had to take into account whether the publication of figures would help the enemy. Ho would give careful consideration to the question. Aircraft operating under the control of Air Defence of Great Britain maintained extensive patrols in the past 24 hours against flying bomb attacks on southern England. The aircraft were engaged in many actions, and a large number of flying bombs were destroyed. Anti-aircraft gunners in some areas' of southern England were in action- and had a number of successes. For the first time, a flying bomb was destroyed by the fire of heavy guns of a mixed battery. A Bol’ors gun destroyed another flying bomb.