GUNFIRE IN LONDON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 January 1941, Page 6

GUNFIRE IN LONDON

ATTEMPTS AT HU it RUN RAIDS CHURCH STEEPLE DIRECTLY Hl'i. SEVERAL PEOPLE INJURED. ■By Telegraph— Press Association—Copyright• (Received This Day, 11.20 a.m.> LONDON, January 7. There was repeated gunfire in many parts of London during a long pei iod today, single enemy pianos attempting hit arid run raids under cover of low-lying clouds; A bomb scored a direct -hit on a steeple in London in the afternoon, demolishing portion of the church. Debris fell on a tram, injuring several persons. The blast damaged nearby houses and shops RELATIVE LUU. NAZI FIGHTERS ENGAGED ON COAST. MACHINE-GUN FIRE HEARD above clouds. (British Official Wireless j (Received This Day. L 0 p.m.i RUGBY. January 7. For the second night, no alert was sounded in London up to a late hour in the evening. Enemy machines were engaged by British lighters over SouthEast England early in the evening. A big barrage was put up by antiaircraft guns in the Thames Estuary and machine-gun fire was heard above the clouds. DAYLIGHT RAIDS MADE AT MANY POINTS. NUMBER OF PEOPLE KILLED. (Received This Day. 1.25 p.mJ LONDON. January 7. Enemy daylight activity over Britain today was greater than for several months, London had its longest day alert since October 25. Guns in the Thames Estuary and also from the heart of the capital spoke sporadically. A number of incendiary bombs wore quickly extinguished. Several persons were killed when a bomb hit the church, as mentioned in an earlier report, and also demolished a furniture shop and motor showroom. A bomb struck a bank, under which people were trapped. Casualties were caused at two other points in London. Raiders also attacked places in the provinces. A number of bombs fell in a Midlands town in the afternoon, demolishing a number of houses and causing casualties, some of them fatal.

Four persons were killed and four seriously injured when a stick of high explosive bombs fell on a Home Counties district. One bomb fell on a

doctor's house, killing the doctor, his wife and daughter and a boy visitor. The doctor's other two children and another visitor were seriously injured. A burst of machine-gun lire lasting for over three minutes sent school children and shoppers scurrying for shelter in an East Anglian town. Another raider sprayed the rooftops of a south-east' inland town. A third raider machine-gunned a southeast coast town and then dropped bombs.

Enemy planes were als j reported over Liverpool in the afternoon and over a West Midlands town in the evening.

Six million books were destroyed in and around Paternoster Row in the incendiary bombing raid on December 29. Thirty-seven publishers' premises were damaged or burnt out. Many contracts, copyrights and royalty statements were destroyed, but the loss of manuscripts was not serious.