SHADOW OF DEATH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 August 1941, Page 5

SHADOW OF DEATH

RESTING ON THE REICH MOUNTING AIR RAID FEARS IN BERLIN. APPALLING TOLL IN EASTERN CAMPAIGN. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, August 5. “The Times,” discussing the effects of the Royal Air Force raids on Berlin, says that the inhabitants’ nervous tension is heightened by the crashing of buildings, screams of hysterical women, and a fear of terrible bodily injuries which may be inflicted by the great air pressure caused by the bursting of high-explo-sive bombs. These crush windows and walls and tear-off roofs, and it is felt that no air-raid precautions can ensure safety against such bombs. The cities that are most frequently visited by the R.A.F. show an increase in the suicide rate and nervousness and irritability will increase as the hopes that the war will end this year recede. Berlin residents hitherto were the least perturbed, chiefly because the capital has suffered the fewest air raids, but their uneasiness has ■ been mounting after the recent visits by the R.A.F. The correspondent of “The Times” on the German frontier also refers to the effects of the appalling toll of Germans in the Russian campaign, which has cast the shadow of death over many families throughout the Reich. The crowded columns of death notices represent only a fraction of the total number killed, while the fact that official casualty lists have not been published has intensified the public's uncertainty and anxiety. The obituary notices show that some families have lost all their males, and it is openly admitted that some marriages are being hurriedly contracted for the purpose of keeping the family name alive. Women in all the cities noticeably outnumber the men.