TORN TO PIECES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 246, 16 September 1940, Page 7

TORN TO PIECES

ENEMY AIR RAIDERS CHEERED BY SPECTATORS. (United Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec 11 a.in.) LONDON, Sept. 15 When the sound of the “dogfights” was heard over London this afternoon the air raid shelters were emptied faster than they had ever been filled. Bombs, fire, shrapnel and machine-guns were completely forgotten and cheers went up from every street when the British fighter planes were seen to be literally tearing the raiding planes to pieces.

When again driven underground at nightfall the people who had passively resisted the most murderous onslaught ever aimed at a civilian community had something tangible to grin about. They had seen with their own eyes a sample of the It.A.TVs power which was later expressed by the official bag for the day of at least 175 German planes. London’s skyline was unchanged after a week in which the alarms to tailed no fewer than 70 hours. The fact that it is still possible to use the hackneyed phrase “St. Paul’s was silhouetted against the sky” is not the least of the Londoners’ joys. The removal of the time bomb was a major triumph. No service was held in the morning for the first time for years. The authorities say it should he possible for life around the Cathedral to return to normal to-morrow. OFFICIAL COMMUNIQUE. An Air Ministry and Ministry of Home Security communique states: This morning a large number of enemy aircraft crossed the coast near Dover in two waves. They were promptly met by strong formations of fighters and an air battle ensued. In the course ot this raid two small enemy formations succeeded in penetrating the London area, where houses were hit by bombs. Some fires broke out and damage was done to gas and water mains. From preliminary reports it is clear that the number ot casualties is small. At least fifty enemy aircraft were shot down in this raid. BOMBS JETTISONED.

Some of the 400 German planes participating in the attempts to reach London this afternoon jettisoned their bombs on fleeing back and did some damage in South-East England. High explosives demolished a row of houses in a London district, but there was not a single casualty ,tlie occupants being underground. Planes shot down over London fell alongside Victoria Station, also at Kennington and Streatham. A Spitfire made such a mess of another over St. James’s Park that the fragments provided souvenirs for hundreds of peop;e. One German who parachuted ~ .• sum.ro began shouting “Kamcrad” before he reached the ground, .i u o,» u oi civilians waiting to receive him tore the parachute to pieces for souvenirs.