AIR RAIDS ON MOSCOW

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23448, 1 October 1941, Page 3

AIR RAIDS ON MOSCOW

- - -♦— Courage of Russian People MARBLE-LINED SUBWAYS AS SHELTERS |When the bombers come. Moscow goes down into lovely marbled subway stations; when the bombers go, Moscow comes up the escalators and calmly goes about its business.” In this way a special, correspondent of "Collier’s” magazine describes in a radioed article this month how Moscow is reacting to the air raids of the Germans. The.article states:— The people are showing that they can take it. For the first four nights, German aeroplanes arrived with clockwork regularity between 10 and 10.15. The next night we waited till midnight. But the days' were free, the Russians deciding not to sound the alarm in late afternoons, when reconnaissance aeroplanes usually come over. Working hours are uninterrupted during daytime and pleasures continue during the evening. They crowd the theatres, the movies, and the restaurants. People stroll round the streets. They dine early, but shortly before 10 p.m. they must make for home. They must pick up their bedding and be readv to carry it to the nearest shelter or subway when the alarm sounds. The new regulations even permit women and children to go into the subway and settle themselves for the night long before the aeroplanes arrive. These very grand subway stations, lined with marble from the Urals, and which have long been the pride of the Muscovite heart, have turned out to be more useful than anyone imagined. Those who wait till the loud-speakers blare out the ominous word “trevoga" (alarm), which always precedes the sirens, waste no Urns, taking cover. Once I stood on a balcony watching the people pour into the'square from side streets, running toward the subway. Within 10 minutes the streets and the square were clear. This haste was caused not so much by fear as by the rule that makes it imperative to take shelter while the sirens are still sounding. No Pushing or Shoving On the night of the first raid I was in a hotel room undressing for bed. As soon as I heard the siren I slipped on a shirt and slacks and made a beeline for' the subway station in the square below. It was far more crowded than it had been during the short alarm in the morning when nothing happened. But there was no pushing or shoving. Everyone went in quietly and reached the lower platforms quickly, as there is no necessity to buy tickets on these occasions. People walked up and down the platforms talking, just as though they were killing time between the acts of a play. After a few minutes everybody was ordered to go down to the tracks into the tunnel. We (the writer and a photographer) walked along as slowly as we dared, hoping to be the last in order to be nearer the entrance, where at least one gets an impression that the air is fresher. We found ourselves well in the middle of a crowd and followed their example of spreading newspapers on the tracks and sitting down. It was not long, however, before the police delivered us. I fell asleep to be awakened at 4 a.m. by the rush of the crowd making for the escalators at the sound of the “all clear.” It was the first time I had seen all three sections of the escalators going up at the same time. With masses of people rising upward it looked extraordinarily like a very modernist picture of an ascent to heaven. Twenty-two Bombers Broueht Down On reaching the street T could see no signs of the bombing. That morning the newspapers announced that aeroplanes had come over the city, dropping incendiaries and bombs. Twentytwo were brought down. A few houses were set on fire, but all fires were under control by dawn, and only a small number of people were killed and wounded. . , ■ This account was printed on an inside page. "Pravda’s” front page was devoted to an editorial about army and navy officers joining the Communist Party and to provincial reports o£ women studying to replace men as skilled workers, and to war communiquesl from the front. Even from a publicity point of view the German raid was something of a failure. On the third night the raid began at 10. The German aeroplanes, forced up by the anti-aircraft fire, were flyin tt so high (about 18,000 feet) that their aim was not good, and again most of the damage was done to private dwellin|)ne of the Englishmen remarked that the anti-aircraft barrage, was excellent, and that if London had been able to. put up anything as good dming the first three months of the blitz there would have been a different story to tell. Inpidentallv. I heard also from a member of the British mission that it has been greatly impressed by the way the Russians have profited from the lessons of the battle of and how they are avoiding all the mistakes made by'the French , An interesting passage jo in view of the varied reports about the practice of religion in Russia, is a statement that the writer, during an alarm on another night, was talking to Father Brawl, an American priest, who had a church in Moscow. New Brighton Closing Day.—The statutory closing day in New Bnghton jc fixed by a clause in the statutes Amendment Bill, which was introduced inthe House last night. The c aiise provides that New Brighton is to remain Stricttor PUJP^S of the Shops and Offices Act, .1921-22, and preserves the existing position i regard to hours of dosing on other working days.—P.R-