LONDON UNDAUNTED

Evening Star, Issue 23694, 30 September 1940, Page 3

LONDON UNDAUNTED

AIMLESS RAIDS BY NAZIS VITAL SERVICES UNIMPAIRED (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 28. Recalling that London has now been subjected nightly to enemy raids for three weeks, ‘ The Times ’ strikes a balance sheet,” and states: With every night that passes it becomes more difficult to find any plan at all in his operations. Broadly speaking, _ the bombing has been more indiscriminate, wanton, and nnaimed. There has been considerable material damage, with civilian casualties 3 although theso have been fewer than expected from an air offensive of this kind The homes of numbers of people, from the King to the humblest commoner, have been damaged! or destroyed, while shops, both large and small, have been wrecked, but the enemy has not yet succeeded in stoppping a single one of the services and activities necessary to the life of a great city. Everything from the delivery of milk to—may we say?—the production of a great newspaper goes on* Nor have these attacks broken the spirit of any Londoner. The enemy cannot therefore claim one military gain, direct or indirect, from the tactics he has employed.” Stating that the Nazis seem to imagine that their air offensive will sooner or later produce the same kind of collapse as in the Low Countries and France, ‘ The Times ’ proceeds to point out the essential distinctions between the circumstances and conditions of those countries and Britain, and continues : “ Though there is so little for the enemy on the credit side, much must go down on the debit side. In the first place, his devotion to night raids is an admission of failure of day attacks, and the success of night attacks by the R.A.F. The R.A.F. has a technical reason for these attacks—namely, the distance of objectives in Germany from our bases prevents our bombers from being escorted by fighters. The Germans have not this reason. In the second place, even night raiders do not escape scot free, and the price they have to pay will become increasingly heavy. Thirdly, the indignation and determination, he has engendered among British people and their friends in other lands should be included in the accounts as the very reverse of the terrorisation Hitler hoped to effect. “ While we are awaiting a fuller answer to the German night bomber we can add one final item. As Mr Churchill said, ‘ he badly needs an early decision,’ and the progress of the British Commonwealth air training plan in Canada shows that Germany’s only hope is swift victory in the air.’ PEACE IN THE PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SUGGESTED SAN FRANCISCO, September 28. ' On his return to America, Mr C. V. Whitney, chairman of directors of PanAmerican Airways, suggested that the United States should call a conference of the Pacific nations to discuss means of preserving peace. “ I predict that out of such a conference would come a peace lasting many years,” he said, “ because if Japan’s intentions are peaceful she will have a chance to prove it. If not, the other nations will have a chance to; get together for their mutual welfare. “ There is no question that it would he a great loss to ns if we awoke one morning to find the great resources of Australia, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines diverted elsewhere, and also perhaps to find other people happily free like ourselves free no longer. If these things are not worth the utmost effort to preserve now, when they can still be preserved, then we may soon have to fight for them when the odds are turned very much against us.” MOSLEM LEAGUE UNABLE TO JOIN VICEROY'S COUNCIL NEW DELHI, September 28. The Working Committee of the Moslem League passed a resolution that it is unable to join the Viceroy’s War Advisory Council, although it desires to help "in the prosecution of the war. LORO MAYOR OF LONDON SIR GEORGE WILKINSON ELECTED LONDON, September 29. Sir George Henry Wilkinson has been elected Lord Mayor of London. [The new Lord Mayor has been an alderman of Aldersgate since 1933, and a member of the London County Council for the City of London since 1937. He was sheriff of the City of London in 1931-32, and is a governor of St. Bartholomew’s, St. Thomas’s, and King’s College Hospitals.] BOMBER CREW RESCUED ADRIFT IN RUBBER BOAT LONDON, September 28. Coastal Command planes found the crew of a British bomber who had been adrift in the North Sea in a rubber dinghy in rough weather and acute cold for 84 hours. German planes several times unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the rescue. British planes three times saw the dinghy tossing in heavy seas and bitter cold. It was impossible to keep the dinghy under observation longer than five minutes. A parcel of comforts was dropped at the end of the first day. Those in the dinghy were unable to recover it, but they picked up a second parcel in the third day. BRITISH CHILDREN ANOTHER BIG PARTY REACHES CANADA MONTREAL. September 27 A party of 120 British children arrived safelv at an Eastern Canadian port, after 'narrowly escaping a dozen bombs when leaving England. I