LIFE OF LONDON CHANGES

Southland Times, Issue 24229, 12 September 1940, Page 7

LIFE OF LONDON CHANGES

PEOPLE WITHSTAND SIEGE GERMANS ADHERE TO TIME-TABLE (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received September 11, 9 p.m.) LONDON, September 10., Londoners have taken the Luftwaffe s daily raids in their stride. In one week the entire life of the city has changed—regulated by time-tabled visitations —and the people have settled down to withstanding the greatest air siege in history. The first daily warning can be expected at midday, when the Germans make, a regular attempt to break through with a mass formation of bombers. Londoners shrug their shoulders and estimate, while sitting in a shelter, that it will last half an hour to an hour.

The next raid usually arrives at approximately 5 p.m. and lasts about the same period, while German pilots endeavour to drop bombs which will cause fires to guide them throughout the night. Then between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. the nightly sessions begin. Everywhere in the vast sprawling city millions go to shelters prepared to remain until 6 a.m. Suburban residents have converted their shelters into bed- . rooms. With their children, and even pets, they bed down cheerfully for the night. Those lacking private shelters hurry to the public shelters, where they settle down in small, brave-hearted communities, intimately drawn together by the overshadowing peril. Those living in hotels go to basements and ground floors prepared for a fitful vigil.

THEATRES CLOSED “Night life” has been abandoned temporarily. The theatres have closed, but queues remain. Where once Londoners sat patiently awaiting a show to begin, amused by itinerant entertainers, they now wait as patiently for the shelters to open with the first note of the sirens, as the wardens will not allow seats to be reserved. Working hours have been adjusted to suit the raids. The homeward trend begins two hours earlier. Staffs of offices have been advised ta set off about 4 p.m. before the first raid, so that they are settled down in their homes by dusk. Queues for trains and buses wait patiently and more tolerantly than in peace time. ' In view of the temporary dislocation of travelling facilities the public has been asked to avoid unnecessary travel. Many Londoners are having a cold midday meal instead of a hot one as gas pressure in many restaurants is reduced. Some water services also are reduced. The Metropolitan Water Board has appealed to people to use less water for bathing and washing-up. As the raids continue night after night one thing emerges. The people, who are schooled to expect the toll of night bombing, are resigned to get it over as though it were a distasteful necessity in order to free Europe of a scourge. Many bodies so far have been recovered from school in East London which received a direct hit by a

bomb on Monday. Some persons extricated from the mass of twisted girders and debris were still alive, but died en route to hospital. Between 18,000 and 20,000 Civil Defence’members, working in shifts, in addition to contractors’ employees, are toiling at high speed in an effort to clear the debris and restore normal conditions in London’s bombed areas. Raiders tonight flew over northwest England, the Midlands and the south-east, where bombs'were dropped in the centre of a town, demolishing a number of buildings. Wales was subjected to a heavy raid for several hours. Bombs fell in the centre of the town. A number of persons was injured.