IN SPITE OF BOMBS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24422, 7 October 1940, Page 6

IN SPITE OF BOMBS

MAINTAINING COMMUNICATIONS COURAGEOUS LINESMEN LONDON. Gctr 5.:. Post Office engineering workers, who deal with telephone repairs and maintenance, have in two instances recently shown their courage and resource in dealing with emergencies resulting from the dropping of Ger-man-bombs. In the first case, the telephone linesman had orders to go and ’restore the wires affecting a vital circuit, as these had been blown down by bombs. On arrival he found an unexploded bomb lying a few yards from the pole where the wires were broken. The military officer on duty refused him permission -to do the job, as it was too dangerous to approach the spot, but when the officer was occupied on other •work the linesman persuaded the sentry to let him pass and the job was quickly carried out, _ . , , In the second case, during: a recent air raid, a bomb embedded itself, but failed to explode, within a few feet of a vital main telephone office. After diverting the most urgently required lines to alternative routes, the engineers formed an emergency party with repair equipment, pending the explosion of the bomb. Then a bomb disposal squad appeared, and for 12 hours the. engineers assisted them to remove the bomb, which they exploded harmlessly in a nearby field.