WAR NEWS IN BRIEF

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 July 1944, Page 5

WAR NEWS IN BRIEF

MR. CHURCHILL’S STATEMENT

LONDON, July 20. The Prime Minister (Mr. Churchill) will make a statement-on the war situation in the House of Commons on August 2. The House will adjourn on August 3 for the Summer recess, but members have been warned that they may be recalled before the end ol the recess.

CANADIAN CASUALTIES.

OTTAWA, July 19

Th Canadian Government has announced that the total Canadian war casualties until May 31 were 21,68 J.

ARCHBISHOP’S TOUR

NEW YORK, July 19

Most Rev. Doctor Spellman, Catholic Archbishop of New York, has left for an extended visit to warring nations and neutral nations in Europe, and in Africa, and also possibly in Asia. This is reported by the “New York Herald-Tribune.” Dr. Spellman will see Pope Pius XII, as one of his first objectives. His trip is being made in his capacity as Catholic Vicar of the United States Armed Forces

SHELTER DISASTER.

LONDON, July 20

Claims for damage amounting in all to £lOO,OOO face the Bethnal Green (North London) Corporation. They result from a disaster in an air raid shelter in March last year, when 176 persons were killed, and 60 injured. Shortly after the disaster the Home Secretary, Mr. Morrison, stated the tragedy was caused by somebody entering the shelter and stumbling, and those following failing to halt. But full details have been released now. After a six-days’ secret trial, a court has awarded damages to a woman whose husband and daughter were killed in the shelter. It was a test case, and the woman, Mrs. Annie Baker, was awarded £l2OO in respect of her husband, and £250 in respect of her daughter, and £lOO for injuries she herself suffered. The grounds for the action were negligence on the part of the corporation in permitting an entrance to the shelter that was a trap or concealed danger. Bethnal Green Corporation will hold a special meeting to review the. situation.. It is probable that a special rate of 5/will be struck to meet the outstanding claims. DEVON VILLAGES DESTROYED

(Recd. 11.10 a.m.) LONDON, July 20 During the invasion preparations in Britain, Allied units razed several small villages in Devonshire. They were Blackawton, East Allington, Slapton, Strete, Stoke Fleming, Sherford and Stokenham. Houses, shops, churches, schools and farm buildings and dwellings were pounded by bombs and gunfire by combat units learning war under actual conditions. No official information is yet available about the rebuilding of the towns. They may disappear from the map of England. They may remain as a "battlefield” —a monument to the intensive training carried out before the invasion of Europe. N.Z. AIRMEN’S EXPLOITS. (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) LONDON, July 20. When a Spitfire Squadron in the Second Tactical Air Force shot down six enemy aircraft in a 15-minute flight over Normandy recently, a Wanaka man, Flying Officer B. F. Collings, shot down an ME 109 and an Aucklander, Warrant Officer R. C. Harden, got a FW 190. Their squadron was returning from armed reconnaissance when they sighted 20 enemy planes below them. Then, said Collings, pieces of aircraft were flying about all over the place during the next quarter of an hour. A Hastings man, Squadron Leader Ft W. Tacon, D.F.C. A.F.C., took part in the Beaufighter attack on a German convoy off Heligoland on the evening of July 18 when two ships were left blazing, two more blew up, and several escorts were damaged by I cannon fire and rockets.