MOST VIOLENT YET

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 80, 1 October 1940, Page 7

MOST VIOLENT YET

ENEMY'S RECEPTION

HEAVY ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIRE

LIVERPOOL SAVED FROM BOMBING

(By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.) (Received October 1, 10 a.m.)

LONDON, September 30. German planes which ventured over London last night received their most violent welcome so far from the anti-aircraft guns.

A bomb started a serious fire in the City of London which was got under control. Houses were destroyed or damaged in many residential districts, and a number of people were killed or injured. Large fires were started in the Merseyside district, where commercial premises were damaged.

Attacks on the Home Counties were very heavy south and west of London, but the damage was not heavy and the casualties were few. A bomb demolished some houses in a south-east London district and rendered others uninhabitable. Another wrecked a nurses' home at a western suburban hospital.

Two workers of the Auxiliary Fire Service were killed and four were in-

»jured during all-night fire-fighting following the Merseyside raid. Firemen iwere caught under the blazing debris iof a warehouse.

Waves of raiders adopted a new technique over some provincial districts, dropping only crude-oil incendiary bombs. Premises which were set on fire included three churches, a convent school, a garage, and also msany dwellings.

Nine Hurricane fighters saved Liverpool from a serious bombing attack last evening. The Hurricanes were patrolling over the Irish Channel whsen they sighted nine Heinkels, apparently en route to Liverpool. The R.AJF. machines gave chase. One raidier crashed in the sea and another was so seriously damaged that it was unlilkely to reach its base. The Heinkels were last seen flying south. Several jettisoned their bombs to expedite their escape.

About a- hundred shops and houses were demolished, a public house was wrecked, and a clubhouse was seriously damaged in south-west London. Another raider jettisoned its bombs over a residential quarter in northwest London, damaging houses. It is believed that the bombs wiped out a family of thr.ee.

The raiders during the first daylight raid today consisted of big forces of bombers and fighters. At least 50 bombers, escorted by fighters, crossed the coast in one wave.

British machines engaged the raiders over "western London later in the morning.

A German communique claims that great destruction and fires were caused in London,, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Leith, and Midland towns.