BLACK PALL

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1940, Page 7

BLACK PALL

LONDON COYERED GREAT CLOUD OF SMOKE DISTRESS AMID DAMAGE

Rec. 7 p.m. London, Sept. 10. A mountainous black cloud of smoke was hanging over London this morning. The police guarded the entrances to all affected areas pending the fixing of barriers. Ambulances and demolition waggons still raced along streets that were filled with dust and smoke. Rescuers over a wide area were Still searching buildings for victims. Most distressing scenes were witnessed not only in the East End but in areas far westward. Warehouses in the vicinity of St. Paul's Cathedral were ablaze. The Church of St. Mary-le-Bow (Cheapside), of Bow Bells fame, after a long period of anxiety was pronounced out of danger. , t Rescuers in many parts of London worked extricating people from collapsed 1 houses with bombers overhead. Two bombs that fell in a London square demolished one house and damaged every other. ' "It is not the fires and damaged buildings which upset us, but the sight of little children with gaping wounds and others killed outright, people screaming amid the flames, women frantically trying to save babies and men searching for their families," said a member of the air raid precautions organisation. Children With Gaping Wounds. A bomb in a Central London district demolished a women's hostel, causing the surrounding area to be evacuated. Bombs shattered the roof of a children's hospital and caused a fire in the top floor. A second bomb which hit a maternity hospital seriously damaged the ground floor of a nearby public house. A brpken water main threatened the lives of eight people taking refuge in the cellars, but screams from the trapped people attracted the attention of rescuers. Several were killed when a high explosive fell in north-east London, seven houses crashing in a huge pile of debris. Twenty-two houses were demolished with casualties in two adjoining streets in a south-east London area. A number were killed when a# bomb fell at the corner of two streets in Central London, sending seven houses crashing to the ground. Fifteen hours after a house in the south-east of London was demolished by a bomb rescuers were still working to release a family of five entombed under the debris. Stretcher Party Killed. A stretcher party was killed while on duty in the south-west of London. The fire which threatened Bow Church | was one of the biggest. Hundred^ ^ of firejnen worked feverishly in narrow side streets and saved the church. Many people in an East London district have beeh without gas since the night of September 7. Somi? localities are temporarily without both gas and water. A communal feeding systeni instituted in the East End is • working effectively. Lord Woolton, (Minister of Food) urged traders to get stocks from the docks as speedily as possible. Retailers have been wamed to shelter stocks. Splinters of glass have pierced even canned foods. Many bodies so far have been recovered from a school in the east of London which received a direct hit ,by ; a bomb on Monday. Some persons were extricated from the mass of twisted ! girders and debris still alive, but died | en route to hospital. j The bombing of London was again in • full swing to-day. bombs dropping steadily after a slow start. Five times the alarms were sounded in London. Bombs came hissing through the air, there was a terriflc reverberation from the explosions, the glew of fires- could be seen at two or three points. There were raids on several other parts of the country. The first four London warnings were of short duration and the fifth was longer. Immediately after the first alarm there was a thrilling dog-fight over Lohdon between enemy planes and British fighters. The exchange of machine-gun fire was heard in the crowded streets. A raider dropped a salvo of bombs in a residential area of a south-east seaside town at noon- to-day. Two women were killed and several people were injured. '