HEROES OF THE NIGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 September 1940, Page 6

HEROES OF THE NIGHT

LONDON’S INDOMITABLE FIREMEN UNTIRING SALVAGE EFFORTS. UNDER THREAT OF FURTHER BOMBS (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.10 p.rh.) LONDON, September 11. The fires started in last night’s raids on London are still burning. A smoke pall hung overhead as Londoners began another day’s work. The City and the East End again received a terrible hammering. Bombs fell almost without intermission through the hours of darkness. Auxiliary and regular firemen were again the heroes of the night, wrestling with outbreaks under the constant threat of further bombs. Four high-explosive bombs followed by incendiary bombs burst in a warehouse and business area in Central London, causing fires. Some buildings were seriously damaged. Firemen working in a street where the blaze was most intense clambered to the upper floor of a slightly burning building in order to direct hoses on premises more seriously threatened. A flaming "breadbasket” fell outside a shop and burning oil spread along the street. Members of the auxiliary fire service extinguished the flames while bombs were falling in adjoining streets, in which houses were demolished. ' An aerial torpedo completed the ' destruction of blocks of shops in an area where smaller bombs had caused damage on the previous night. It is feared that many men, women and children evacuated from their homes after Saturday’s raids were killed when an East End school was wrecked. The school was used as a refuge for about 500 homeless people. Doctors and nurses worked in the light of torches, treating the survivors rescued from under tons of debris. Masonry and girders crumbled down on the refugees who were sheltering on the ground floor. Rescuers found two babies, of nine and. six months respectively, alive under the ruins. Dozens of streets in this area presented a scene of mass wreckage. Many people emerging from Anderson shelters found their homes demolished. Widespread damage. j Raiders attacked one area with the utmost determination. Here were concentrated scores of bombs in a small space. Several delayed-action bombs in the same district went off during the night, damaging several houses. There were some casualties when a bomb hit a hospital in a central district. A Roman Catholic Church was demolished in Central London. Valuable music, manuscripts and antique furniture were destroyed when the home of a well-known woman pianist was damaged. Dropping from the clouds, despite fierce anti-aircraft fire, a Dornier unloaded its bomb cargo against a train en route for the coast from London. A bomb fell through the roof of an empty carriage, causing a fire which was quickly extinguished.

FEAR GF TIME BOMBS STREETS CLOSED IN BERLIN. AMERICAN EMBASSY IN DANGER. (Received This Day, 10.50 a.m.) LONDON, September 11. A Berlin radio message stated that a delayed action bomb in the grounds of the United Stales Embassy cannot be removed and will destroy not only the Embassy but other important buildings if it explodes. The police, have closed several streets in Berlin because of (lie fear of time bombs.