AIR RAIDS ON LONDON.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 January 1918, Page 3

AIR RAIDS ON LONDON.

VIVID DESCRIPTION. I Rome interesting descriptions of recent air raids on London are contained in a letter which lias been received by an officer ‘of the Lands Department in 'Sydney from, his sister'in London. Among other things, she says: “On the night of 7th. September we were arousod from our beds twice in the night I heard a strange noise, quite different from tho sound of our aircraft This sound came nearer till it seemed to fill the sky. Then the guns began firing, being nearer than ever before. The Gothas must have sailed right over us, hut no bombs were dropped. After much firing there was much silence, and after waiting an hour went to bed, only to he called up again in a few minutes by a fresh attack which was finally driven off.

“London had peace till September 24. when we bad a very determined attack lasting four hours. Since that night we have had a raid on six nights out of eight. A bomb went through the roof of a house, and fell on an empty bod. but did not explode. Another went through the pavement a little way from us, and a third made a hole in the Hammersmith road, near Broadway. The effect of all this' 1 in London lms been extraordinary. Thousands .of people have left town and gone to any sort of lodgings they could get- in towns and villages out of the track of the raiders. Many people unable to find rooms were actually camping out. The poor who have no money to leave tow'll with have been allowed to take refuge in the tube statfoifs when the raid warnings sounded. They line up outside the stations at. 4 in the afternoon, carrying blankets, pillows, and food for the children, arid they wait patiently till 7 o’clock when they are allowed to go clown on the platform, which is s°° n a mass of prostrate bodies. People getting in and out of the trains have to step over them.

“There was a- terrible accident one evening at Liverpool street station,, when some fool gave a falsp alarm, and crowds rushed downstairs on to the already crowded- .platforms. A woman and child were crushed to death, while numbers had limbs broken and were otherwise injured. “On 29th October we were just sitting down to our evening meal, when we beard the police whistles and the warning shout of ‘take cover.’ We listened to the gun-fire—big and little—which seemeef to be all round us and very near. This lasted for nearly an hour, and then the sound died away. We had hoped to hear the ‘All Clear’ 1 signal ; hut. alas! after about half , an hour the guns were all at work again. We had four soperate attacks that night, with strange intervals of death-like silence between .oem, for when the warning signal is given all traffic stops, and everyone, goes to shelter, so there is no movement in the street. On this night it was 7 in the evening when we took shelter, and 20 minutes past one when we got the “AH Clear” signal. Tt is quite amus-

ing after a raid to see the children arm ed with hammers, hits of iron, or sticks, digging hif K -of shrapnel out of the wood pavement of the streets. They do a roaring trade by selling bits for a penny each t° any credulous person who will buy them. 1 think the most disturbing sound one hoars during a raid is the crash of falling mason r y it make R one realise that the next crash may he on one’s own head.”