BRISTOL AGAIN BOMBED

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 December 1940, Page 7

BRISTOL AGAIN BOMBED

CASUALTIES NOT HEAVY QUIET NIGHT IN LONDON DISTRESS AT SOUTHAMPTON - . - _ 0 [BY CABLE. —PRESS ASSN.—COPYRIGHT.]

LONDON, December 3. ( After a night comparatively free from raids by German bombers, London had an alOrt in the early hours of this morning. Nine bombs were propped in one district, some falling in a field. No one was killed and there was little damage. For the seventh consecutive night, German bombers raided Bristol yesterday. The attack began shortly after dark and continued until nearly midnight. Several fires were started and some persons were killed, but the number was not large. Raiders were also over Liverpool and other places last night. I

Meanwhile, rescuers at Southampton have been working feverishly to remove further evidence of the fury of the German raiders over the weekend. Pitiable crowds of those rendered homeless in Southampton all day searched the ruins of their homes for valuables before seeking asylum in other Hampshire areas. The roads were crowded with pilgrims. Reorganisation went on unceasingly in a tremendous effort to clear the streets and evacuate those rendered homeless in order to facilitate rescue work if the Germans returned to the fray. Accommodation on outgoing buses for some hours before the blackout was heavily taxed. It became a case of women and children first. Additional buses were requisitioned and private car owners did their utmost to relieve the congestion. The Official German News Agency reported to-night that there was a thick mass of 'smoke and flames over Southampton where oil tanks were believed to be on fire. The smoke and flames were visible from Cher bourg. The agency claims that Hastings was heavily bombed yesterday and that many fires were started* An attack against a town in the south-east of England began early this evening. Flares were dropped, and these were followed by incendiary bombs and high explosive bombs. Some premises were hit. Damage is reported to have been done in several districts. Another south-west town was. raided for the seventh successive | night. No bombs were dropped. Thej attackers were driven off by fierce j ground fire. , , , I Dense fog and low and unbroken! cloud blotted out the Straits of Dover i on Monday night. A cold north-1 easterly wind blew, but there was a ( , calm sea.

HOSPITAL HEROISM. (Recd. December 4, 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, December 3. The Germans, last night, concentrated their attack on Bristol. - Children and nurses displayed remarkable heroism when a hospital was bombed. The nurses, some o£ whom are still in their ’teens, threw themselves over the children, to protect them. The children sang and cheered as bombs fell round them, and while they were carried to safety. Some babies did not wake up, despite the pandemonium. Several persons were killed while sheltering in the cellar of an inn, including the licensee, his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and their baby. Anti-aircraft batteries drove oft raiders trying to penetrate another south-west town. Two explosives and 100 incendiaries showered an outlying Welsh coastal town, last night. Fires were quickly extinguished.

BRISTOL “COVENTRATED” RUGBY, Decerpber 3. German reports of last night’s bombing of Bristol, make no attempt to disguise the fact it was indiscriminate, for Berlin messages claim that Bristol has been “coventrated,” a word coined by the Germans to denote- the kind of destruction they claim to have done to Coventry. This tacit admission of the indiscriminate nature of last night’s bombing of Bntol, is fully borne out by early reports from that town. Flares preceded the dropping of incendiaries and high explosives which, as in the case of Coventry and Southampton, caused damage to shops and residential premises. The fires started were efficiently and rapidly attacked by regular and voluntary civil defence services, whose personnel, assisted by other voluntary workers, again proved their heroism, by braving fury from the skies throughout the onslaught. Church premises were among those reported damaged by fire. A children’s hospital was bombed and set on fire, but all the patients were successfully evacuated, and all have been accounted for. It .is officially stated that one of our fighters was lost over Britain yesterday, but the pilot is safe.

BOMBS DURING DAYLIGHT. (Recd. December 4, 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, December 3. Diving out of the clouds, the enemy dropped nine bombs in the London area, this morning. A few minutes after a family left for work, a bomb fell directly on their h °A Single low-flying raider bombed a London residential district. In one house, a woman was blown out of bed by a bomb-blast. Two policemen were gassed, while rescuing people under the debris. OVER EAST ANGLIA. RUGBY, December 3. An official communique states: There have been a few flights over East Anglia, to-day, by single enemy aircraft. Some of these flew over the London area, and dropped bombs on the outskirts. Bombs /were also dropped in Sussex and East Anglia, but the damage was slight and the casualties were small. LIVERPOOL RESCUES LONDON, December 2. Further details of Liverpool’s worst raid on November 28 reveal the courage of the victims and the unremit-

ting labours of the rescuers. A youth still alive under tons of debris was found 50 hours after bombs had demolished working-class houses. Rescuers began digging within half an hour of the explosion. Wounded and killed were slowly brought to the surface and the rescuers continued their work all Friday and Saturday, recovering further bodies. Then early, on December 1, faint moans were heard. A rescuer, clambered through a tunnel and found the youth. A doctor crawled to him and administered an anaesthetic. The youth was taken] to hospital, but died. Rescuers are still searching and clearing away debris.

I GERMAN DISAPPOINTMENT ! LONDON, December 2. 1 The Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm newspaper “Tidningen” reports that the German people are disappointed at (facing another winter i under war condtions, and the indiscriminate raiding that may be the result. All that Nazi frightfulness has ■ done, however, is to damage civil ob--1 jectives, and weld the British people • into an organisation determined to re- ■ sist, and help each other. j WILHELMSHAVEN ATTACKED i LONDON, December 2. j The Air Ministry News Service i states that last night a small force of ] British heavy bombers, in spite of 'very unfavourable weather, visited I one of Germany’s most important . ship-building yards at Wilhelm- ' shaven. The yards are beside a large : basin from which a canal leads to ,'the sea. Warships of all kinds are i built there, and there are six dry ■docks in which submarines are being constructed. A large fire spread well! within the limit of the shipbuilding | yards, where a shower of incendiary bombs had fallen. | SHIPS BOMBED AND HIT RUGBY, December 2. Last night, the Coastal Command aircraft attacked shipping off the Norwegian coast. One ship sustained a di- I rect hit. A large explosion and fire | followed the bombing of wharves on Afje Island. Yesterday, a direct hit was scored on the stern of •an enemy supply ship off the Norwegian coast. Aircraft of the Bomber Command last night, attacked the submarine base of Lorient. None of our machines was lost.

BOMBERS FOR BRITAIN? (Recd. December. 4, 9.5 a.m.) BALTIMORE, December 2. George Hutchinson, head of the “Flying Hutchinsons” family, revealed that since early in November, 40 American pilots are making regular mass deliveries of American bombers to Britain from the Canadian air fields, unmolested. The planes carry a pilot, co-pilot, and radioman. About 60 pilots and 30 radiomen, including Americans, Canadians and British, are participating.,