NIGHT OF HORROR

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 157, 31 December 1940, Page 9

NIGHT OF HORROR

AMAZING ESCAPE OF

ST. PAUL'S

RINGED BY FLAMES

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Received December 31, 2.40 p.m.) LONDON, December 30. During last night's air raids women ambulance crews took the injured to first-aid posts and later to hospital. At least two churches in this area, j one of which Wren built, were destroyed. There was a time when it seemed that one area was ringed with firo. Great, white-hot flames lapped greedily round buildings, although hundreds of men worked desperately to stem the advancing tide of fire. The fiercest fires occurred in old buildings used as offices. Modern buildings withstood the onslaught. The escape of St. Paul's was amazing. Buildings within a stone's throw still blazed- and crackled when daylight appeared. St. Paul's was surrounded with-a seemingly inextricable mass of hosepipes, and fire engines and trailer pumps were dotted about Ludgate Hill. St. Paul's churchyard was aglow with the fierce burning of several devasted buildings in Cheapside and nearly presented a nightmare scene. Building after building has been reduced to a scarred and blackened shell. Most of the treasures in the Guildhall had. previously been, removed to safety, otherwise they would have been destroyed. The old Banqueting Hall and Council Chamber were set on fire. The Lord Mayor, Sir George Wilkinson, spent the night visiting firemen and members of the A.R.P. -service, _ There were amazing scenes this morning at the junction of the London Wall, where crowds of typists and city . workers appealed for directions from policemen, who advised alternative routes. Fore Street, adjoining London Wall, was closed because it was filled with a mass of masonry. The streets around it were littered with glass and debris.