FATE OF LONDON

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21219, 16 September 1940, Page 7

FATE OF LONDON

TH2EATS BY GERMANS SAME AS WARSAW OR PARIS 5500 KILLED IN RAIDS (United Press Asn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) BERLIN, Sept. 14 An official spokesman said: “About 2000 tons of bombs have been dropped on London throughout the week. The Luftwaffe can be well satisfied with the results. London must now choose the fate of Warsaw or Paris. “It is conservatively estimated that 24 big London docks have been burned to the ground in the last week. In spite of denials, foodstuffs are running short. The so-called voluntary evacuation is steadily growing, and straining the transport system, which already is disorganised. London’s armament industry has been reduced to a fraction of its former output. “The docks, including the Canada dock and the area westward of the East India docks, were heavily bombed last night. The pilots all agreed there had been reorganisation of the London aircraft defences, but the restriction of searchlights helped them.”

The Times’ correspondent on the German frontier reports that German newspapers announce that 5500 have been killed in London raids, and proclaim that the responsibility rests with Mr Churchill. It is also officially claimed that oil and petrol tanks were bombed near Buckingham Palace, also the Cunliffe Owen aircraft factory at Southampton, where production would be held up for a few months, and a nearby aeronautical research factory specialising in long-range bombers.