HAVOC IN LONDON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 October 1940, Page 6

HAVOC IN LONDON

FAMOUS SQUARE REDUCED TO DEBRIS CASUALTIES IN NUMBER OF AREAS. MAN WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS COMRADES. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) LONDON, October 16. London had three brief alerts today. Heavy casualties are feared as a result of a direct hit on a large, crowded underground shelter in London this morning. A goods train and a platelayers’ gang were machine-gunned in the Midlands, but none were injured. Last night a famous London square was reduced to a heap of twisted frames and dusty debris.. At least eight motor-cars were shattered. One, a mere mass of twisted metal parts, was flung through adjacent windows. Many were sheltering in buildings around the square but there were less than a dozen casualties. A famous church was severely damaged. Gaping holes were torn in the sides of a tenement, blocks of flats and hospitals. Some shopping and business areas are cut off by, debris. The heaviest casualties of the night were sustained when a heavy calibre bomb completely destroyed a school which many were using as a shelter. Four other' schools were damaged. Two policemen were killed while on duty in the London area. A family of five, consisting of a man, his wife and three children, perished when an Anderson shelter was directly hit. Twenty boys were trapped when a hostel was demolished. Seventeen boys were subsequently rescued, but the hostel chaplain and superintendent, with his wife and two children, are all, it is feared, dead. Raiders, guided by a large fire in a furniture repository, rained down 26 high explosive bombs on doctors, nurses and A.R.P. workers, of whom several were killed. The rescuers continued their work, disregarding the terrible danger. A large bomb wrecked several houses from which A.R.P. workers were still extricating those trapped this afternoon. Two firemen were buried while extricating a man. Charles Goodyear was killed by a bomb which destroyed part of industrial premises in London. He gave his life for his comrades. The firm’s fire brigades were dealing with several incendiary bombs when Goodyear, hearing high explosive bombs falling, ran about blowing his whistle, to ensure that everyone was under cover. A bomb buried him under the wreckage of the building. GERMAN REPORT (Received This Day, Noon.) LONDON, October 16. A German communique says: “The R.A.F. continued its indiscriminate bombing against non-military objectives. Houses and farms were hit in Central and Western Germany, resulting in civilian casualties. “The Luftwaffe attacked Southern and Central England, particularly London, with increased violence. Artillery turned back enemy naval units off the Channel coast.”

BERLIN EVACUATION IN INTERESTS OF HEALTH OF CHILDREN. (Received This Day, Noon.) BERLIN, October 16. The official news agency says the gradual voluntary evacuation of children from large towns threatened by air raids, such as Berlin and Hamburg, is not due to any danger from British air attacks, which do not necessitate action, but to the bad effect on the health of young children from frequent interruptions of sleep.