LONDON UNDER FIRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 November 1940, Page 3

LONDON UNDER FIRE

NEW ZEALANDER’S EXPERIENCE LOT OF CITY UNDAMAGED. HOW THE PEOPLE FACE ORDEAL. “Life is grand at present.” is the summing-up of a former resident of Te Awamutu now rendering war service in England, after describing a visit to London. He tells of a journey to the Heath to watch searchlight displays. “At 5 p.m. the alert sounded and in a flash the whole sky was shattered with beams. Criss-cross they swept, and then, high above, the drone of the Huns’ machines. Suddenly from the penetrated blue came flares, lighting up London. Slowly and surely they floated down; searchlights were switched off; then red flares. After watching it all till 11 o’clock I came back to my lodgings. Next afternoon at 5 o’clock I heard the alert again, looked in the sun. and saw nothing except the balloons gleaming silvery in the golden sun; then a few planes are heard far off, and all is peace again. “I was at Kew Gardens, and left for home soon. The bus had not proceeded far when I sensed trouble. Little groups of people were standing about, and then, rolling into the pale blue sky, were huge billows of smoke., I j thought of Mars and the pillars of fire by night. However, by the time I reached the Strand matters had eased, and I made my way to the New Zealand Forces’ canteen, where I had a pie, potatoes, and beer. Much laughter, hakas, and songs. At 8.30 I left there, and went out into the dark. Ah! the pillar .of fire by night was in evidence now. so I hopped on a bus labelled East Ham —eight miles. I suppose. I had the front upstairs seat, with a farmer chap aged about sixty. All the way to the Bank everyone indulged in wild speculation. Where were the fires? How many bombs? Such comments as “Dirty .” and so on. Once past Aidgate East things grew lively. The road was blocked by fire engines. But on we crept into Commercial Road. There we were blocked again, and took a long detour through East End, passing hundreds of trolley buses stopped en route. Fires appeared to be raging all the way down. At one place I hopped off. intending to see the firemen at work. The streets were deserted. Fires raged all round. I started walking up the main road; then turned towards the river, where a huge fire was raging. Down long lanes I walked, and the smoke above was dense, in yellow billows, lit by flames, and I could hear somewhere a plane above me. I had arrived near the fire where the A.R.P. and A.F.S. workers were, with their miniature engines. Suddenly a bomb fell. I could hear it coming closer and closer. I looked round terrified, then ran to a doorway and lay prone on the asphalt—waited an I eternity; then a colossal explosion ' about 30 yards away down the street. I was deafened, blinded, and mentally staggered. Glass began to fall round me. slates slithered from the roofs, and hardly had I picked myself up when I heard another bomb screaming its way down. I hugged the wall closer. Why was I alone? Somewhere I heard shouting, then crash, and a terrific sheet of light. It lit up the whole neighbourhood. Fire spurted everywhere and magnesium burning smoke filled the air. I arose,' covered in debris, and decided I had better get out of that vicinity! A fire detachment arrived and extinguished the incendiary bomb. “I started on my five-mile walk to Aidgate. No traffic. Every house was windowless, doorless, and often burning. I had gone about 200 yards when down came another bomb. I,■ducked, but this time it landed in the next street. Everything quaked. By this time I had lost my fear, and the next real excitement was when one landed in the middle of the road just ahead, and the flames shot up about 60 feet. A gas main had burst. I helped to put that out. then walked towards the warehouses, which were all ablaze. I could walk roughly about 200 yards before running for it, and lying down. Every place was deserted except for fire-fighters and their fire-engines. I was just lying in a doorway, having decided I was a fool to come down, when a woman came along, and in her hysteria she grabbed me, saying. ‘Lor. blimey, he’s killed!’ ‘Oh. no. I’m not!’ said I. Then another bomb sounded, so I pushed her into a deserted beerhouse. With the aid of a torch we found and drank the landlord’s beer, and then I left her and passed along the road. It seemed to be taking hours to get into a safe area.

“Just as I reached where things were comparatively quiet, down came another bomb, and I found myself dragged into a cubby-hole by some chap. He was a St John worker, trying to get back to the West End; so we journeyed on together. By this time I wasn't at all frightened, and the people we saw were not frightened, either, despite 400 dead and many seemingly injured. There appeared to be thousands of fires and firemen—but perhaps I exaggerate. At 11.20 p.m. I got a lift in a L.C.C. salvage lorry. I said goodbye to my friend in danger, and went into my hotel. The shelters seemed full of foreigners, screaming and hugging each other in their terror—and ho bombs had dropped near! “At 1.30 a.m. I heard a few bombs falling closely, and decided to stay in bed; but half an hour later one landed very, very near, so I arose and journeyed to the shelters. At the shelters there was community singing (rather feeble). My impression was crowds and sweat, so I went back to bed —and to sleep. “This, remember, was my first experience of bombing. I wouldn’t live in Hamburg or any part of Germany for worlds! They must be ‘getting it hot’ over there. It is amazing, and thought-provoking, to see the way the people here have got over being frightened of the bombs. England’s marvellous, and Hitler has no chance of ‘putting the wind up’ z the people here. What I have written may perhaps give the impression that the greater part of London has been destroyed. That is not so—in fact, it is very far from the mark, indeed. Of course, a vast amount of damage has been done, but, remember, there’s a terrible lot of London!”