LONDON UNDER FIRE

Evening Star, Issue 23679, 12 September 1940, Page 9

LONDON UNDER FIRE

DAILY RAIDS TAKEN IN PEOPLE’S STRIDE ENTIRE LIFE OF CITY CHANGED WORKING HOURS ADJUSTED Press Association— By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, September 11. Londoners have taken the Luftwaffe’s daily raids in their stride. In one week the entire life of the city has changed—regulated by time-tabled visitations and the people have settled down to withstanding the greatest air siege in history. The first daily warning can be expected at midday, when the Germans make a regular attempt to break through with a mass formation of bombers. Londoners shrug their shoulders and estimate that they will have to sit in the shelters for between half an hour and an hour. The nest raid usually arrives at 5 p.m. and lasts about the same period, while the German pilots endeavour to drop bombs which will cause fires to guide them throughout the night. Then between 8 and 9 o’clock nightly sessions begin. Everywhere in the vast, sprawling city millions go to shelters, prepared to remain until 6 a.m. Suburban residents have converted their shelters into bedrooms. With their children, and even pets, they bed down cheerfully for the night. Those lacking private shelters hurry to public shelters, where they settle down in small, brave-hearted communities, intimately drawn together by the overshadowing peril Those living in hotels go to basements and ground floors prepared for a fitful vigil. THEATRES CLOSED. “ Night life ” has been abandoned temporarily. Theatres are closed, but queues remain. Where once Londoners sat patiently waiting for a show to begin, amused by itinerant entertainers, they now wait as patiently for shelters to open with the first note of the sirens, since the wardens will not allow seats to be reserved.

Working hours have been adjusted to •uit the raids, and the homeward trend begins two hours earlier. Staffs of offices are advised to set off about 4 p.m., before the first raid, so that they can settle down in their homes by dusk. Queues for trains and buses wait patiently and more tolerantly than in peace time. In view of the temporary dislocation of travelling facilities, the public is asked to avoid unnecessary travel.. . Many Londoners are having a cold midday meal instead of a hot one, since the gas pressure in many restaurants has been reduced. Some of the water services have also been reduced, and the Metropolitan Water Board has appealed to people to use less, water for bathing and washing up. As the raids continue night after night, one thing emerges—the people, who have been schooled to expect a toll from night bombing, are resigned to get it over as though it were a distasteful necessity, in order to free Europe of a scourge. RELIEF OF DISTRESS FUNDS OPENED IN AUSTRALIA MELBOURNE, September 12, (Received September 13, at 9.10 a.m.) The City Council is giving £25,000 to the fund opened by the Lord Mayor for the relief of victims of the German bombing raids in Britain. When the fund is officially inaugurated at a public meeting to-day, the Lord Mayor will be able to announce that £40,000 is already in hand. The proposal to establish the fund received a prompt response from Victorians, and thousands of pounds of support has already been received. MINIMUM DISRUPTION NEW SYSTEM OF WARNINGS LONDON, September 11. (Received September 12, at 10.55 a.m.) Mr Churchill applauded the new •ystem which factories, newspaper offices, and other establishments are adopting to prevent disruption during air raids. Watchers are being posted on roofs to give a warning when danger is imminent. Sirens will be regarded as the “ alert,” not the alarm aignal. LATER DETAILS DIVE ATTACK ON TRAIN LONDON, September 11. September 12, at 12.20 p.m.) Raiders attacked one area with the utmost determination. Here were concentrated scores of bombs in a small space. Several delayed action bombs in the same district went off during the night, damaging several houses. There were some casualties when a bomb hit a hospital in the central district. A Roman Catholic church was demolished in Central London. Valuable music manuscripts and antique furniture were destroyed when the home of a well-known woman pianist was damaged. Dropping from the clouds, despite fierce anti-aircraft fire, a Dornicr unloaded a bomb cargo against a train en route to the coast from London. The bomb fell through the roof of an empty carriage, causing a fire, which was quickly extinguished.