190,000 BOMBS ON BRITAIN

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 March 1943, Page 2

190,000 BOMBS ON BRITAIN

HISTORY OF THE BLITZ

One of the most moving books of the wax - is published by the Stationery Office. It is priced at 2/- and is called “Front Line. 1940-1941.” It tells fox- the first time as a consecutive narrative how Britain fought the blitz (states a “Daily Telegraph” contribution). It is a history of which every Civil Defence worker and every 'civilian in bombed Britain are entitled to be proud. The blunt facts are these. Up to the end of 1941 190.000 bombs had been dropped on Britain. Men, women and cliildren to the number ol 43.6d7 had been killed and 50,387 seriously injured. London received the most sustained onslaught. From September, 1940, to July 31, 1941, between 45,000 and 50.000 bombs, exclusive of incendiaries, were dropped in the London region. They damaged upwards of 1,150,000 houses. In the first three months, in which Londoners withstood bombing for 57 nights on encl, 12,696 civilians were killed and about 20,000 seriously injured. The weight of bombs in that period was, perhaps, 6,600 tons. Less imposing statistically but often in fact more immediately and completely devastating were the lessei’ blitzes on ports like Plymouth and Portsmouth, where 05,000 out of 70,000 houses wore damaged, and great industrial centres like Coventry ana Birmingham. . . , , Many details of the blitz-nights will strike chords in the memories ol those who endured them. Others will be new even to those v.’ho took important roles in combating the Luftwaffe's malice. I chose, fox’ example, these facts about the dock fires: — Fire-boats were blistered as they tried to slip past the Surrey Docks blaze,, though they hugged the opposite bank, 300 yards away. At Woolwich men fought the flames among boxes of ammunition and crates of nitro-glycerine. . Peppei’ fires filled the air with stinging particles, burning the lungs like fire itself. Blazing rum cascaded through warehouse doors and barrels of spirit exploded like bombs. . In the first 22 days and nights London’s fire-fighters attended nearly 10,000 fires—something over 1,000 in a night. . . „ Paint, white hot, rubber, giving oil deadly black smoke; sugar ablaze on the surface of the dockyard basin; burning tea; rats and dense swarms of black flies from the granaries. CIVILIANS’ COURAGE.

Against this inferno the _ steady courage of the civil population and the gallantry and resolution of the Civil Defence personnel shine out as the elements which enabled Britain to stand triumphant in the end. “Front Line” allocates the credit wherever it belongs, and readjusts the perspectives of those who may have been misled by sympathetic descriptions into believing that Londoners fought the blitz from the underground tube stations. The facts are that, at the peak of the terror, not more than 15 per cent, of metropolitan Londoners were in public shelters, and not more than G or 7 per cent, in “big” shelters, including the tubes. Sixty-four per cent, of Londoners “stuck it out” at home or on duty. In the central areas there was public shelter for twice the number who made use of it. Misjudgments and errors are admitted in the account. The authorities were taken by surprise by the damage which high explosives could cause. They did not expect that indiscriminate night bombing would come so soon after intensive day bombing was defeated by the R.A.F. Rest centres for a while were overcrowded. . Arrangements for succouring the homeless were not everywhere adequate at first. Watersupply difficulties handicapped the firemen at crucial times and disheartened them. Though much must still be left untold, the book indicates that our organisation has. always been resilient and ready to learn from its mistakes. The spirit of Britain is honestly and splendidly expressed in dozens of anecdotes and in photographs, which are magnificent in their artistry and human understanding. The last page of the book illustrates a passage from a Churchill speech in which he refers to “the spirit of an unconquerable people.” A man in a cloth cap and a girl without a hat are walking away from a ruined home, each carrying a bundle, and both smiling. That picture sums up perfectly the message of the book.