CIVILIAN LOSSES '

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 156, 30 December 1944, Page 7

CIVILIAN LOSSES '

ORDEAL OF BRITAIN LONDON, December 28. British civilian casualties for the first 11 months of this year were 8989 persons killed and 21,137 seriously in- i jured, reports the Ministry of Home Security. This compares with over , 20,000 killed in 1941, which was the « worst year of the blitz, and over 3000 ". killed last year, which was the lowest , figure since the beginning of the war. ] Piloted aircraft in February and , March made the heaviest attacks on , London since 1940-41. \ Fire guards dealt with 90 per cent, of the fires, and no serious fire situa- , tion was allowed to develop. A system of observer posts was developed when c the flying-bomb attacks began, and the i fall of bombs was reported to the \ control rooms within a few seconds. • Rescue methods have been much im- l proved, and not infrequently persons have been rescued within 20 minutes. \ Spitfire bombers resumed their attacks against V 2 sites' in Holland to- \ day, winkling out two targets which \ had been deliberately placed between l densely populated civilian properties. One lay in a 300-yards space between two housing estates, and the other ] within 200 yards of a large hospital. Pilot Officer W. F. McConnochie. of f St. Bathan's, Central Otago, led ' an ) R.A.F. formation which planted its I bombs accurately in the first area. Australian Spitfires dealt with the ' second area, pin-pointing the narrow * targets. No planes were lost. '