RAIDS ON BRITAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 143, 13 December 1940, Page 8

RAIDS ON BRITAIN

FOUR BOMBERS DOWN

FAIRLY HEAVY NIGHT ATTACK

BIRMINGHAM DAMAGE

(Official Wireless and 0.P.A.) (Received December 1% 2 p.m.)

LONDON, December 12,

Small formations of enemy fighters and fighter-bombers crossed the coast of Kent this morning and flew towards London, states a communique. They were intercepted by fighters, and three enemy aircraft were shot down. The R.A.F. suffered no loss.

A small number of bombs were dropped on the outskirts of the London area and at points in southeastern England. These did little damage and caused few casualties. Otherwise the enemy activity today was slight.

An enemy bomber was shot down off a south-western town this morning, and during last night one bomber was destroyed.

An Air Ministry communique states that enemy attacks were on a fairly heavy scale last night, being mainly concentrated on a town in the Midlands, but elsewhere activity was less, although a certain amount of damage was done. The main attack lasted all night. A number of fires were all quickly brought under control.

Birmingham was the chief target in last night's raid. People were trapped in four places under debris and some under a shelter.

The raiders bombed six churches, eleven schools, a hospital, and a deaf and dumb institution in the Birmingham area. A.R.P. workers tolled all night and all morning extricating people who had been buried in debris. Five were killed when a bomb made a direct hit on a shelter.

Bombs caused considerable damage in a town in the west of England, and it is feared that a number of people were killed. The Mayor stated that 18 bombs which were dropped last week caused no casualties, yet last night a single bomb resulted in deaths and injuries.

A high-explosive bomb hit London flats. A bomb penetrated to a basement shelter and A.R.P. workers quickly extricated those who were trapped, but several people were killed.

A bomb hit a hotel in London and four persons were trapped under casks of beer.

Bombs struck eight rows of houses and a direct hit. was made on a big store in an , East Anglian town,, ten casualties resulting.

High-explosive bombs damaged a number of houses in the home counties, one person being killed and 11 injured.

It is revealed that bombs recently hit Eton College, the Bristol Assize Court, and . ths Wembley Soccer Stadium. The bomb which fell on Eton College partially destroyed classrooms which 'Sir Christopher Wren built in the seventeenth century, and damaged parts of the college which date back to the fifteenth century, including the headmaster's house.

Birmingham people continue to protest against chaos, mismanagement, and profiteering that followed recent air raids. The Rev. F. J. ; Wright, of Birmingham, said: "The. way the corporation treats some air raid victims is scandalous. Many people are living in bombed houses with the sky as a roof. The authorities have pushed them from pillar to post, and women with families are going round the streets begging housewives to take them in."