DAMAGE IN LONDON

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21212, 7 September 1940, Page 9

DAMAGE IN LONDON

RAID LASTS SEVEN HOURS HOSPITAL HIT BY BOMB OLD WOMAN’S BRAVERY (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 6 London last night had the longest air raid alarm of the war. It lasted for seven hours 34 minutes and ended at five o’clock this morning. Another alarm was sounded about 7.30 this morning. Heavy explosions were heard in parts of the capital. A hospital was hit during the raid last night. Two wards were affected and two houses near by were demolished. Another bomb made a direct hit on a shelter, where about 1000 people were taking refuge. Only two were injured. The hospital which was struck is in Kent. Part of the walls collapsed. One sister crawled in under the wreckage to give morphia to the injured. It took an hour and a-half to dig out a woman aged 76. She was wounded on the head. All she said was, “ Go to it, mate.” The raiders came over intermittently throughout the night dropping bombs, but there seemed to be far fewer than on the previous night The anti-aircraft barrage also was less fierce, although occasionally it flared up while the searchlights probed the skies. Bombs were dropped in several London districts, wrecking houses. There were a number of casualties some of them fatal. Whistling, high explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped. An American correspondent states that several flies were started. There was a bright glow in the south-east area of the city. Many buildings were shaken. It is officially stated that there were 2336 civilian air raid casualties in Britain in August, comprising 627 men, 335 women and 113 children killed, and 711 men, 448 women and 102 children seriously injured.