CALMNESS IN LONDON

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21211, 6 September 1940, Page 5

CALMNESS IN LONDON

BUSINESS AS USUAL MORE ALARMS SOUNDED"” CONFIDENCE OF AIRMEN (Omcltl wireless) (Received Sept. 6, 11 a.m.) RUGBY. Sept. 5 The first raid warning of the day in London sounded at 10 a.m. and lasted 55 minutes. The public confidence in the Royal Air Force fighters and ground defences to give protection to London was again completely justified and the business life of the population continued almost unchanged throughout the warning period. In the Central London area public shelters, which have recently vaatly increased in numbers and are widely distributed, were almost deserted during the warning period. In the Government offices and the premises of the war business concerns watchers are stationed on roofs to give warning to the staffs if the raiders approached their area. This did not occur and the workers pursued their normal duties, uninterrupted. In the streets there was no evidence in the behaviour of the pedestrians that enemy aircraft were attempting to approach London. Railway buses and taxicabs proceeded on their journeys. Horse traffic, on the other hand, were warned by the mobile police to withdraw from the streets. Mr Churchill Watches Battle The public in London are noticing that the period of daylight raid warnings has been getting shorter recently and that the “Raiders passed” signal often sounds without the enemy reaching beyond the fringe of the area. They deduce that the fighter and anti-aircraft guns are succeeding in breaking up the German attacks quickly. While on the way to visit the New Zealand troops in the South of England yesterday Mr Winston Churchill watched one air battle from the dining-car of his train, which was pulled up at a suburban station after the warning sounded. A Ministry of Home Security communique states: During last night's action over Britain two enemy bombers were intercepted and shot down by our fighters shortly after midnight. Enemy aircraft in considerable numbers crossed the south-east coast this morning and some penetrated to the outskirts of London. Some bombs are reported to have been dropped in this area, but from preliminary reports it does not appear that serious damage was done. Our fighters and anti-aircraft guns went into action and losses were inflicted on the enemy. Communications Dislocated Preliminary reports of this morning’s raids over Britain show that the attack resulted in some minor dis? location of communications in the South London area, but that otherwise the damage was slight.