GREAT BARRIER ROUND CITY

Evening Star, Issue 23681, 14 September 1940, Page 11

GREAT BARRIER ROUND CITY

SHIFTING FENCE OF EXPLODING STEEL SAVAGE RAIDS ON PROVINCES LONDON, September 13. (Received September 14, at 11.30 a.m.) Anti-aircraft guns and British fighters went into action against the early morning raiders over London. Apparently dismayed by London’s shifting fence of exploding steel, which early in the night shook the capital like an earthquake, the Germans turned violent attention to the provinces, several areas having very long raids. A north-east town endured the first serious attack. Two screaming bombs fell in a working-class district, damaging houses and causing casualites. Incendiaries were showered down in various places. As the waves of raiders flew over they received a forceful welcome from the anti-aircraft guns.

A high explosive' bomb damaged the casualty ward in a public assistance institution in a north-east coast town.

An enemy plane was brought down in the street in a Welsh coastal town. Several bombers attacked a convoy off the east coast of Scotland. The members of the convoy were undamaged.

A . few people were fatally injured when a bomb fell in a northern London district. Several shops were demolished and others seriously damaged. In another area bombs damaged several houses and a garage. A few people sheltering there were killed. From midnight to noon London was in a state of alarm for nine hours. The first warning sounded less than two hours after the “ all clear ” had sounded for the night’s second raid. The second alarm lasted from 9.49 a.m. until 1.50 p.m. The sirens sounded for .ne third time at 3.55 p.m. The “ all clear ” for the third alarm sounded at 4.15 p.m. A solitary plane diving from the clouds was responsible for the third warning. Pedestrians threw themselves full length on the roadways and pavements. The plane dropped bombs, setting fire to a building. -

A raider dropped several incendiaries over the London district during 'the second warning, . but these were promptly extinguished. Heavy explosions were heard in Central London and then a deafening gunfire barrage broke out. The streets were quickly deserted as shrapnel pattered the roadways and roof tops. FAMOUS CHURCHES DAMAGED. Of the severs!! places affected in the past few; days’ raids,' it is new disclosed that the buildings damaged include Somerset House; the churches of Our Lady of Victories, Kensington; St. Magpus . the. Martyr; St. Swithin’s, Cannon street; St. Mary at t}ie Hill; St. Dunstans in the east; St. Mary Woolnoth; St. Clement’s, East Cheap; St. Augustine’s, Watling street; and St. Giles’s, Cripplegate. Rotten Row and Barclay Square were also affected. About five bombs fell in the vicinity of St. Paul’s on September 12. One is believed to have been of 5001 b. One south-west suburb is beginning to resemble the East End. There is hardly a street without a crater . or craters. Windows are rare for a considerable length along the district’s main road. However, apart from a number of deaths when a shelter was directly hit, the casualties are mostly confined- to injuries sustained while hurling to the ground with (or without) the assistance of a bomb blast. A 14-year-old girl, Mildred Castillo, was rescued alive this afternoon from the ruins of a demolished house in a south-west suburb in which she was buried on September 9. She was believed to be dead, but a passer-by heard her cries. TRAPPED BY BALLOON CABLE. The Air Ministry announced this evening that in the course of last night’s enemy raids on Britain an enemy bomber fouled a balloon barrage cable and was destroyed. “ HIT AND RUM " ATTACKS NO GREAT DAMAGE (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 13. (Received September 14, at 11.7 a.m.) A survey of last night’s and to-day’s enemy raids on Britain is contained in an Air Ministry communique issued at 9 p.m., which states that further details of the enemy’s attack on Britain last night confirm that no extensive damage was done, though bombs were dropped in many parts of the country, in two towns in the Midlands and one town on the south coast. Houses were damaged in one of the Midland towns and a small number of casualties caused In the London area the number of persons killed and injured in last night’s attack was not heavy. Fuller reports of the previous night’s casualties show that 110 persons *were killed and 260 injured in the London area. 1 Early this morning incendiary bombs were dropped in districts of northern Ireland and small fires started, but these were quickly extinguished and there were no casualties.

At midday to-day, in addition to the attacks on London, enemy aircraft in small numbers dropped bombs in several districts of south-east England. In a town in Essex considerable damage was done, but no casualties are reported. In several other places houses and cottages were hit, but the general damage and casualties reported are .slight.

Later enemy aircraft, continuing the method of sudden attack and retreat, which characterised their activities throughout the day, dropped bombs in

one district of Central London, in Eastbourne, some places in Kent, and in one town in Surrey. Some casualties resulted in London. In Eastbourne there were also some casualties, most of them slight. Further details of these later attacks are not yet available. An enemy bomber was shot down by our fighters this morning. NEW ZEALAND HOUSE NOW REOGCUPIED LONDON, September 13. (Received September 11, at 12.35 p.m.) New Zealand House has been reoccupied. The sirens sounded for the fourth time at 9.10 p.m.