COURAGE HIGH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 October 1940, Page 5

COURAGE HIGH

RESOLUTION OF PEOPLE OF BRITAIN '' NO OTHER THOUGHT THAN TO FIGHT ON. % UNTIL RUTHLESS ENEMY IS PULLED DOWN. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 20. Glowing tribute is paid by the weekly Press to the manner in which the country has stood up to the gruelling air attack of the last six weeks. The “Sunday Times” says: “So far as the enemy plans were directed to breaking the spirit of our people they have failed. Neither in the metropolis nor elsewhere has the reaction of the victims been toward giving in. The whole nation realises now that there is no room for it, that we are fighting against an enemy who knows neither mercy nor fair play and is incapable of compromise, and that there is nothing for us but to fight on regardless of losses, till we pull him down as, by patience and steady perseverance in applying our superior resources, we undoubtedly shall “Even if the actual devastation of the capital were such as the German propaganda pictures it already, we could still have no thought of surrender. For giving in would involve the whole nation, in.permanent’and irretrievable ruin, beside which the temporary ruin of the bricks and mortar of a city—even of the largest city in the world—can sustain no sort of comparison. “The trial is severe, but no one who witnesses it will gainsay that the spirit of the people from top to bottom—and not least at the bottom —has been truly magnificent. Never had a democratic Government a stauncher democracy at its back.” “The humour and mutual helpfulness of Londoners in the midst of the bombing ordeal is an inspiration to visitors from the country,” said the Bishop of Truro, Dr. J. W. Hunkin, who is a member of the Home Guard, in a sermon. He told the congregation that hundreds of thousands were still carrying on. He had found bus conductors, police, and other officials very friendly and helpful with information and assistance. As an example of the general spirit, the bishop told how one evening, when the vicar of a parish came into a basement to conduct short night prayers for families preparing to spend the night on matresses, a man came forward with a special request that they should sing a verse of the National Anthem. This they did in rousing fashion. There was a great deal of broken glass in London, said the bishop, but the vast majority of the great buildings were still solid. GERMAN CLAIMS BERLIN, October 20. The German news agency says that a troop encampment near London was bombed today. Four Hurricanes were shot down. There were no German losses. ROME COMMUNIQUE NUMBER OF CITIES BOMBED. (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) ROME, October 21. A communique admits that the British R.A.F. bombed Verona. Savona, Pavia and Alessandria and that a number of persons were killed or wounded.