WAVE AFTER WAVE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 45, 3 December 1940, Page 5

WAVE AFTER WAVE

RAIDERS OVER SOUTHAMPTON.

BUSINESS AREA MAIN OBJECT. SOME CASUALTIES CAUSED. THOUSANDS NOW HOMELESS. (United Press Association—Copyright.! ' (Received. This Day, 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, December 2. The first details of the latest raid on Southampton indicate that the Germans repeated the previous night’s tactics with undiminished violence. Wave after wave of raiders attacked the town, continuing their mission of brutality till early morning, leaving large areas of the town in ruins. The business area was again the main objective, but the suburbs were also assailed.

Emergency measures were taken immediately to minimise the dislocation of the food supplies. Temporary accommodation was found for the thousands rendered homeless. Hundreds of- workers arrived at their places of employment in , the morning, to find them destroyed. Some residents of Southampton wore killed, but the casualties are believed to be fewer than on Saturday night. Not a. single bouse in one road escaped damage. One half was set on fire. Some streets are impassable. Hundreds of steel-holmeted pioneers are tackling the work of demolition, causing the town to rock frequently today as masonry and timber fall. Most of the casualties were probably concentrated in the communal underground shelter which was directly hit by a heavy bomb. Rescuers are still extricating the bodies. A German communique refers to the second raid on Southampton and other localities last night, but gives no details. It claims that 60 large, and numerous small fires were started on the previous night, Southampton being merged into a huge sea of fire.

CLEARING UP THE RUINS.

SCENE OF TRAGIC ACTIVITY

LONDON, December 1

The casualties at Southampton were not irnduly heavy. The city to-day was a scene of tragic activity as the auxiliary fire service, A.R.P. workers, soldiers, and American Red Cross helpers worked tirelessly to relieve the appalling plight of the Southampton people. A bare-headed priest throughout the day cheered queues of people who had been rendered homeless, mostly women and children, Avho were waiting outside a clearing centre.

OTHER CITIES ALSO ATTACKED ENEMY PLANES BROUGHT DOWN LONDON, December 2. The Air Ministry has announced that the. main objective of German raiders over England last night was again Southampton, which was heavily raided on Saturday night. Flares were dropped in the town area followed by incendiary bombs and then by explosives. The Air Ministry has announced that the fires which broke out were well under control at daybreak. London received its usual nocturnal visit. Raiders were reported over Liverpool and towns in the Midlands, the south-west of England, South Wales, and East Anglia.

The Official German News Agency stated that after nightfall yesterday, German squadrons bombed harbour works, dry docks, industrial plant, and other essential war objectives at Southampton. The railway connection between Southampton and London, the agency says, has been interrupted. German activity over Britain in daylight yesterday was slight. Eight raiders were shot down, and five British machines were lost, but the pilots of all of them are safe. The raids during the day were over a wide area, but the reports so far received indicate that no serious damage was done to vital industries. There was some damage to houses and private property and a small number of casualties has been reported. The comparative quiet of London’s nights was broken on Saturday by the heaviest raid for some time. A heavy bomb in the London area killed seven persons and injured several others. Most of the casualties occurred in two public houses. Two ambulance men were killed, and three wardens #vere seriously injured. The audience in a London cinema, when an incendiary bomb blazed up, remained calm while the staff dealt with the bomb. A lone raider bombed an eastern town, when one person was killed and three were seriously injured, t Three enemy aircraft * were destroyed on Saturday and the Royal Air Force lost two fighters, the pilots of which are safe, states an Air Ministry communique.

The sixth hundredth enemy aeroplane destroyed by squadrons operating from a single fighter command station was shot down on Saturday following the joint efforts to two Spitfire pilots who belong to one squadron. One pilot, a 22-year-old flight commander, already had 11 destroyed enemy to his credit, and the other, a 26-year-old pilot officer, had 19. Both have already received the D.F.C.