RENEWED RAIDS ON LONDON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24399, 10 September 1940, Page 7

RENEWED RAIDS ON LONDON

FROM TWIUGHT TO DAWN WIDE AREA ATTACKED TWO HOSPITALS DAMAGED '.:■'/■■■ ■■;.■■ - ; . .-.'/■.:^':~'::. : ... -•■ (By Wireless). '',;■.-, '■'• .;•;.-/ v ;•■';••.,.'•/.-;■,.■ ■.'"',•: ■•-'•/■*, ; DAVENTRY, Sept.;9. /.; ' ; V: "" ;; (Received'Sept. 10, at 1 a.m.) German raiders again cruised over London from twilight to dawn yesterday, showering bombs over a wide area , V : of the city. The raid lasted for nearly 10 hours. An official communique gives a general idea of the raid. It ; says: " Last night enemy attacks were renewed soon after darkness fell, and continued: throughout the night. Successive relays operating independently dropped bombs over a widespread area, but there ' was no intensive attack by a large force. The searchlight stations and anti-aircraft defences, went into action. A number of- fires "were started in.'the Thames-side district, and in other parts of London there was a temporary interruption of public services. ~,Considerable damage was caused to private houses and to public .and mercantile buildings, but no bombs fell near military objectives.""' "'"!,'.''■'' ."' Other reports show that many, high-explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped by the raiders, and some new fires were started. The German planes:approached first from the south-east, and bombs were dropped on East London, where fires from the previous night's raid were still smouldering, though under control. ' Therewas a terrific barrage from the anti-aircraft guns—the greatest since the mass raids began—and the sound of the firing, punctuated occasionally by the crash of a bomb, was heard all over London. - The antiaircraft guns in Central London also went into action,/and within . a few; seconds there came the scream of falling bombs. It was soon evident that the scale of to-night's raid exceeded that of Saturday night. ",'■• NO SERIOUS MILITARY DAMAGE .These independent reports; also state that no serious military damage was done; and that industrial targets escaped comparatively; Slightly, but "two' hospitals. were hit 'by bombs and. suffered consider- : ably. •' : •..>•••••• .-;•,;•'•,•.•. :-',.:'• ' : ' : In various parts of the city the streets were damaged by bombs, causing an interruption of traffic. In Central London a bomb landed on a tenement building, and it is feared that some of the residents may be. buried;under the debris. In South-east London a number of houses were wrecked and a block of flats was damaged. It is , feared that a number of people were killed in East London when Vbomblanded on'-'a concrete shelter. :' No .reliable assessment of the casualties can yet be made. In Central London the casualties were light and so far as is known at • present they were not heavy anywhere. ';"< '•■■;• Sometimes the'raiders, came very low, cruising in wide circles round Xondori'in addition': to traversing.it. For hour upon hour .there was• no respite from -the loudr explosions and reverberating blasts, r with every nbw'arid again the bombs crashing more loudly. A member of the Defence Corps said the raiders were not .operating in mass formations, but their intention was obviously "to wipe us off the map." He added that the defences were functioning marvellously under great stress. . ■. • . ;•.. Authorised sources in Berlin say that 35 of .Germany's'biggest bombers, departed for London shortly after midnight, carrying bombs of the heaviest calibre. German airmen reported that the was so thick that the bombers had difficulty in seeing their targets- • £-. : ; : ' : :;V '.'-,. ; ';-- '.■•;.-; * : ; '; RESPECT FOR DEFENCE ''FORCES;., 'i . '"'."', The New York Herald-Tribune, commenting on the London " • raids, says the. Germans are putting bigger "efforts into thesV night: attacks because they found the defences too strong for daylight raids. The New York Times says that.the bombing was inaccurate. As soon as darkness fell the raiders; showed their respect for the • . Searchlights and anti-aircraft batteries by .maintaining an altitude from which accurate bombing was well-nigh impossible. ; It adds. ■ that the main victims, were the poor;:but,;as.Mr.Churchill:said, they : were facing the attacks grimly but gaily. "A Swedish correspondent speaks of buses appearing like, a miracle to take people to places of safety. Only the: complete absence of panic, this writer says, mitigated the .impression of the terrors of modern war. •- - , An American journalist who visited the area where the heaviest bombs were dropped described the damage as less extensive than might have been expected; In one street a whole line of houses had been destroyed, but for the most part he found the damage confined to One or two houses. In the yard of one church he read the legend, ."If your knees quake kneel on them," but he did not see any sign of quaking knees. The people were calm, thoughtful, and grim, but there was no evidence of terror. "If took us 20 years to build our home," said one elderly couple to the correspondent. "Twenty years of saving and scraping and this is all We have to;show," and they held up some odds and ends of, clothing-—" thisi and what we have on our backs."