MAGNIFICENT SPIRIT

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 98, 22 October 1940, Page 9

MAGNIFICENT SPIRIT

PEOPLE OF BRITAIN

NO SIGN OF GIVING IN

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 20. Glowing tribute is paid by the weekly Press to the manner in which the country has stood up to the gruelling' air attack of the last six weeks. The "Sunday Times" says: "So far as the enemy plans were directed to breaking the spirit of our people, they have failed. Neither in the metropolis nor elsewhere has the reaction of the victims been towards giving in. The whole nation realises now that there is no room for it, that we are fighting against an enemy who knows neither mercy nor fair play and is incapable of compromise, and that there is nothing for us but to fight on regardless of losses till we pull him down, as, by patience and steady perseverance in applying our superior resources, we undoubtedly shall. "Even if the actual devastation of the capital were such as the German propaganda pictures it already, we could still have no thought of sur-1 render. For giving in would involve; the whole nation in permanent and irretrievable ruin beside which the i temporary ruin of the bricks and' mortar of a city—even of the largest city in the world—can sustain no sort of comparison, i "The trial is severe, but no one who

witnesses it will gainsay that the spirit of the people from top to bottom —and not least at the bottom—has been truly magnificent. Never had a democratic Government a stauncher democracy at its back." "The humour and mutual helpfulness of Londoners in the midst of the bombing ordeal is an inspiration to visitors from the country," said the Bishop of Truro, Dr. J. W. Hunkin, who is a member of the Home Guard, in a sermon. He told the congregation that hundreds of thousands were still carrying on. He had found bus conductors, police, and other officials very friendly and helpful with information and assistance. As an example of the general spirit, the Bishop told how one evening, when the vicar of a parish came into a basement to conduct short] night prayers for families preparing to ! spend the night on mattresses, a man came forward with a special request that they should sing a verse of the National Anthem. This they did in rousing fashion. There was a great deal of broken glass in London, said the bishop, but I the vast majority of the great buildings were still solid.

GERMANS SURPRISED

LONDON, October 21. According to the Berlin correspondent of the Rome newspaper "II Telegrafo," the Germans are surprised at the way Britain is holding out. "After reading the daily German communiques," he says, "the questions are always being asked: 'How can England hold out?' Is it really true that 47,000,000 Englishmen are 47,000,000 Churchills, all determined to die under the ruins of their Empire rather than ! surrender?'"

GERMAN STATEMENT

REMOVAL OF AMERICAN EMBASSY

(British Official Wireless.) (Received October 22, 10.50 a.m.) RUGBY, October 21. While a Nazi broadcast statement that "the American Embassy in London has closed its doors and moved to another city somewhere in England" is quite untrue, bombs have in fact been dropped near the American Embassy, j A bomb which in a recent raid fell near the Embassy fortunately caused very little damage. The Germarj boast that bombs have been dropped in the near vicinity of the Embassy, and their allegation that in consequence the Embassy is closed, are, however, interesting as affording a further indication of the policy that lies behind the Nazi bombing. The Americar.' Embassy is situated in a district of London far removed from a "military objective," unless terrorisation is included in that term.