EVENTS ON MONDAY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 October 1940, Page 5

EVENTS ON MONDAY

FIERCE RAIDS ON LONDON SPLENDID WORK DONE BY FIRE FIGHTERS. I HEAVY ANTIAIRCRAFT BARRAGE (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, October 15. German air raids on Britain last night were directed particularly on London and a town in the Midlands. They were on a somewhat smaller scale than on recent nights, but the opening period of the attack on London was the fiercest of the last few weeks. Bombs also fell in the Home counties and Wales. Two alert signals have been sounded in London this morning. Raiders were driven off after dropping a few bombs on each occasion, damaging houses, a hospital, and a shop. Commencing at an unusually early hour, in one of the fiercest raids on London yet, more than the normal number of planes flew high over the capital at great speed, and in the early part of the night there was an almost continuous drone as 4 hey raced in, dropped their bombs, and swept out again as fast they could to get away from the ring of anti-aircraft guns. Many people were still on their .way home from work when the raiders were first reported to be approaching the London area, but for some time traffic continued, normally. The planes dropped high-explosive and fire bombs, and some fires were started, but once again the fire fighters did magnificent work and put out the flames in a short time. Among the buildings damaged by fire were a restaurant and a cinema. In the earlier stages the gunfire was intense. The raiders again dropped flares, some of which were shot down by machine-gun fire. A convent was damaged and a statue of the Virgin Mary blown from its base over a row of houses. Liverpool's anti-aircraft fire was the heaviest for seven weeks. In the north-east houses and commercial premises were damaged and there were deaths in two shelters which were hit. A town in south-east England had one of its worst night raids of the war. •