"GIVE IT TO THEM BACK"

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 157, 31 December 1940, Page 7

"GIVE IT TO THEM BACK"

Londoners Angered

LONDON, December 30,

Mr. Winston Churchill, looking very grim and determined, today visited the shell of the Guildhall. He spent two hours examining damaged churches and buildings. The mood of Londoners, angered by the wanton destruction, was quickly shown when they recognised the Prime Minister, City workers gave their answer to the Germans when they cried out: "Good old Churchill. Give it to them back," and declared that they "could take it, and much more."

Mr. Churchill also gave his answer to the Germans when a woman ran forward and asked him, "When will the war be over?" The Prime Minister turned to her and said with great conviction, "When we have beaten them." This remark was greeted with cheers from the crowd.

Mr. Churchill praised the desperate efforts of the fire fighters to save the Guildhall and referred to the ill luck which blew the flames, from the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry, a few yards away, towards the Guildhall. The church was a blazing inferno and acted like a torch.

The Lord Mayor of London, who had spent part of the night watching the fire, also visited the ruins of the Guildhall today and praised the firemen for their valiant but vain efforts.

ous landmarks stood out in spectral relief against the glare and flare of the flames. It was a terrible and macabre scene which possessed a horrifying fascination. Buildings blazed and then toppled like giant trees!

One high-explosive bomb killed 80 horses in the stable 6f a brewery. Another hit a church 'Under which 400 people were sheltering, but there were no casualties.

Several of the boroughs reported casualties, victims being trapped by debris.

At the height of the raid the heavy anti-aircraft fire died down and British fighters swept into the attack. There was a short but intense battle and then the raiders temporarily disappeared but they returned for spasmodic bombing.

A surprising lull came after three hours.

The Luftwaffe's tactics were baffling,