BEFORE STORM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 309, 30 December 1940, Page 7

BEFORE STORM.

RESPITE IN LONDON. British Bombers Over Enemy Bases. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Reed. 10 a.m.) LOXDOX, Dec. 29. Londoners enjoyed a quiet night, on Saturday, there being no raids. A south-west town was not so fortunate, successive waves of planes dropping bombs for over an hour. Two hospitals were hit and four people were injured. Many premises were shattered in the shopping area, and a cineufa was set on fire and six adjoining cottages demolished. The total casualties were comparatively small. In London on Friday night the "all clear" was sounded after the worst raid the eapital has had since December S. Scores of high explosive bombs and hundreds of incendiary bombs were scattered over a wide area, with all the features of the worst raids. A number of persons were trapped in the underground shelter of a large block of London workers' flats. Eleven were rescued after two hours. A middle-aged invalid woman is believed still to he under tons of debris. Iler husband, was killed and her daughter has been sent to hospital. Most of those rescued were injured,

A woman in an adjoining shelter said: "We could hear screams for help, but although only a single wall divided us,

we were powerless. Some of the men tried to hack a way. They were using picks when air raid precaution workers advised them to cease because of the danger of a collapse of 'both shelters. We were unable to leave our shelter until the debris was dug from the entrance."

A London parish church, according to press reports, was gutted as a result of being hit by a number of incendiary bombs, says a British official wireless message. In an adjacent thoroughfare a heavy bomb destroyed a hotel and a number of houses near by were wrecked.

A few bombs were also dropped In East Anglia and south-oast England and at one point on the south coast. A number of people were killed and others injured. There were several fires, ibut all were quickly and effectively death with. Lorient Attacked. The Royal Air Force Bomber Command last night raided based in occupied France from which Germany attacks shipping in the Atlantic, says a British official wireless message. The chief objectives were the submarine base at, Lorient and an aerodrome near Bordeaux from which Germany sends some of -the heaviest bombers over the ocean trade routes.

At Lorient stores, barracks, dry docks and the power station were bombed, and at Cherbourg the docks were straddled. At Bordeaux bad weather made it difficult to find the target, but many bombs were seen to burst among the hangars. The aerodrome and shipbuilding vardn at St. Nazaire were also bombed. The programme of mine-laying in enemy waters was continued.

The repeated bombing last week of the Merignac aerodrome, near Bordeaux, from which the Nazis send some of their heaviest bombers against British sea routes, as well as the attacks on Lorient, produced expressions of .-atisfaction that the ••hornets" which try to litimr British shipping are being continuously harassed in their nests. The Press gives -prominence to the fact that observers on the Channel coa>t hift ni'jht were able to see clearly the progress of the relenth—s Royal Air Force bombing attacks on the French invasion ports. r l lie attack is dc-cribed as the "greatest of all raido" 011 these targets. Attacks were also delivered on enemy coastal positions in the LowCountries. At the same time the l'ress emphasised the importance of unremitting attacks on the Lorient submarine I l>a<se, which is the chief German port for 'Atlantic raiding.