GRIM NIGHTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 May 1941, Page 10

GRIM NIGHTS

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BOMBED A poignant description of the strain and terror of living in London during the air blitzkrieg is given in a letter from Mr. A. B. Osbistop to his father in Sydney (says the “Sydney Morning Herald”). The following extracts paint a vivid picture of his personal experiences and reactions.

“To say that the large majority of the people in London have not been scared severely is sheer bunkum,” writes Mr. Osbiston. “A rather absurd bravado has been affected by some, but out of that fear has emerged an amazing and very wonderful spirit of courage and determination. Social and economic differences have disappeared in this, the people’s suffering. “Grim and gay,” are the words used by Churchill to describe the people’s feelings, and no better description could be given. “You have probably read of the bombing of Bloomsbury, but you will, I know, be anxious for my own personal experiences. “After the first night of intensive bombing all in our house decided to sleep in the basement, the ladies using the reinforced shelter and the men sleeping on the floor in the room opening off it. With the continuous ; drone of enemy planes overhead for hour after hour (sometimes for 10 hours at a time) and the distant rumble of A.A. fire and exploding bombs we got little sleep. “The first two nights the bombers sounded fairly close two or three times, and, as the bombs could be heard screaming down through the darkness, all the men ran for the shelter. Explosions shook the house several times, but no bombs fell closer than about a quarter of a mile. “The awful waiting for whistles and crashes (all the time we could hear the planes, which seemed to be circling round and round and round) was rather terrifying. Then, at last, came the whistling swish of a bomb falling through the air; a few seconds of absolute terror, and then the crash some little distance away. Nothing, after that, but the sound of planes for an hour or so. Then three or four quickly successive whistles and

bumps and silence again, or only the continual rumble of guns and bombs miles away. “By 3 or 4 o’clock we were barely able to force our eyes open, yet never really able to keep them closed long enough to lose consciousness, just waiting and waiting for the ‘all clear’ which we knew would sound about dawn. There was an intense feeling of relief when we heard it, and we dropped off to sleep where we lay till breakfast time. SCREAM ON SCREAM

“On the third night we had some as close as I want them, thanks! “At about 1 a.m. four bombs dropped very near, shaking the house violently and starting fires. We

thought that that was our share, and were congratulating ourselves on our luck when a ‘stray’ shook us again. An hour later, when we were just settling down to a short and uncomfortable sleep again, there was a terrific scream directly overhead, as it seemed, and as we were steeling ourselves to take the shock, an explosion shook us badly and was immediately followed by two even louder screams. The explosion from the first rattled the house, and while we were thinking (in the split second there was) that the next must hit us, there came a flash of flame and a crash of buildings. Glass fell all around us. But we were unhurt, and, thank God, there was no fourth. A fourth certainly would have hit us. “Every window in the house

crashed down, and every shutter and the front door were blown in. The gas fires on all four, floors fell out of their places, and pictures and books fell everywhere. Yet we were 50 yards from the bomb. “Four houses in the square were ruined by direct hits, and of all the houses in the whole square, the windows of only one were left intact.

“Half an hour later, while we were still a bit trembly, there was yet another scream from the sky, but, this time, numbed by the previous shock, we just sat and waited for the house to come tumbling in ruins about our ears. Needless to say it didn’t, but the premises shook again as a bomb fell 50 feet from the front door, near the footpath opposite. This time there was no explosion. We knew

what this meant, and, although no one said a* word, I know just what everyone felt. “Hundreds of people sheltering in the large public shelters in the gardens of the square were immediately evacuated, but wardens told us to stay where we were, but to be sure to keep in the basement. Every second we expected the bomb to explode and probably blow the top of the house right off. Every second for three hours was a terrifying year. Then as the ‘all clear’ went at dawn, everyone was evacuated as quickly as possible. We’ve all left our belongings behind, there beingtno time to waste on packing. Between 5.30 and 6, the sight was not unlike those newsreels of refugees trudging along the streets with pathetic little bundles under

their arms, just one or two things they were able to grab. | “For five days I have not been allowed to return to the house. The bomb has not exploded yet. It may be |a dud. We hope so.”