WAVES OF RAIDERS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21223, 20 September 1940, Page 5

WAVES OF RAIDERS

GERMANS DISAPPOINTED CURTAIN OF SHRAPNEL (United Tress Asn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright'. LONDON, Sept. 19 In an endeavour to wear down Britain’s air fighters and ground defences Germany yesterday sent five separate waves of bombers and fighters over the Kentish coast between 9.30 a.m. and 8 p.m. and further raiders appeared to come singly during the night. However, the enemy was disanpointed if he thought his mass assaults would make the path to London easier. The Air Ministry reports show that 48 raiders were shot down. Twelve British fighters were lost, but nine of the pilots are safe. The eighth warning had hardlv died away before the anti-aircraft guns opened up. projecting a curtain of shrapnel against raiders, which seemed to come individually from several directions. The eplosions of bombs mingled with the sharper sound of the guns, and for the third successive night heavy bombs crashed in the West End area. The raiders tried for three hours to reach Central London by way of the south-west suburbs, but were renelled bv fierce gunfire time after time. Finally they were forced to seek other inlets, through which some of them broke. Single aeroplanes were heard over the heart of the Metropolis and met a terrific gunfire. Many bombs were dropped in the suburbs at every point of the compass.

The attacks were continued during the night, when the enemy scattered high-explosive bombs blindly on the capital. Preliminary reports show that the casualties have been heavy, some 90 people having been killed and 380 seriously injured.

Damage was done in many districts by high-explosive bombs, often of a heavy calibre. Most of the damage was done when these fell on small houses, many of which were wholly or partly demolished. Two bombs destroyed five houses in North London. A number of fires were started, but they were all extinguished. There was a loud explosion in a London square during one barrage. An unconfirmed report states that a German bomber crashed.

Outside London enemy activity was widespread, but damage by comparison was slight. Bombs were dropped on Merseyside and on a number of towns in Lancashire. Houses and commercial buildings were hit and there were a number of casualties. Bombs were dropped in Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent and Sussex, in the Midlands and in the north-east and south-west. Although damage was done, only a small number of persons were killed or injured in these areas. Strange Spectacle in London Although the Ministry of Home Securitv has annealed to the public, especially to able-bodied men, not to use the tube stations as shelters, hundreds of thousands of people last night swarmed on to the underground platforms before the sirens sounded.

The underground stations present one of the capital’s strangest spectacles now that Londoners have overcome their earlier diffidence, which arose from notices at the tube entrances stating: “This station is not to be used as a shelter.” Thousands from the East End arrive at the West End stations before dusk, equipped with blankets and baskets of food, and buy a penny ticket in order to get past the barriers. They then make up their beds two and three deep. The police last night strolled up and down the platforms while newsvendors sold the latest editions of the evening papers and dozens of babies slept peacefully beside their parents, for many of whom the stations provide the only roof, since the destruction of their homes.