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Otago Daily Times, Issue 24405, 17 September 1940, Page 7

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GAMBLE WITH DEATH REMOVAL OF A BOMB 4 REMARKABLE VALOUR • (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 16. • (Received Sept. 16, at 7.30 p.m.) With pictures and prose the newspapers applaud the courage of “ suicide squads,” who, under the more prosaic title of Bomb Disposal Squads of the Royal Engineers, have dealt effectively with many delayed action bombs. The bomb removed from the vicinity of St. Paul’s was one of the largest dropped on London. The official account of its removal by a squad under Lieutenant R. Davies is among the most remarkable stories of the battle for London. The Ministry of Home Security states: “Only the courage and tenacity of Lieutenant Davies and his men prevented St. Paul’s from being levelled to the ground.” When the Bomb Disposal Section began to dig three days ago they found that a six-inch gas main had been fractured, and three men were gassed at an early, stage. The gas company was called in to deal with the main, which had caught fire. Nobody then knew how close to the blazing main the bomb might have been. When the gas had at last been cut off the Bomb Disposal Section had to dig for 27 feet 6 inches into subsoil before they found the ' bomb. It proved to be a ton in weight and looked like a vast hog about eight feet long. Moreover, it was fitted with u ; . fuses which made it deadly dangerous to touch or move. save: devastating damage to St. Paul’s the risk of removal ■*>d had tb^e'urideftaken, and, with great difficulty it was drawn up with special tackle, for a high polish had been imparted through the soil, making it difficult to handle. Two lorries in tandem were required, to haul it out of the hole. The streets from St. Paul’s to Hackney Marshes were cleared by the police, and the bomb was placed’on a vast lorry and driven away at high speed, the risk of explosion being imminent the whole time. I ; On Sunday at Hackney Marshes the bomb was blown up by the Bomb Disposal Section. It caused a 100-foot crater and rattled windows, and in one place loosened plaster in houses far away on the marshes.