GERMAN BOMBERS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20384, 22 October 1940, Page 8

GERMAN BOMBERS

WRECKING HOMES RAIDS OVER BRITAIN MORE PEOPLE KILLED ANOTHER HOSPITAL HIT LONDON AND PROVINCES (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United ir.-ess Assn.) (Reed. Oct. 22, 1.45 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 21. A communique issued to-day by the Air Ministry and Ministry of Home Security states that a number of single enemy aircraft crossed the south coast this morning and flew towards London. A small number also penetrated to the Midlands and the north-west. These activities were reported on a smaller scale this afternoon.. Bombs were dropped in the London area, mostly on the outskirts. Some houses were hit and a block of flats damaged. The number of casualties was small, but included some persons killed. A factory was damaged in Lancashire and some further damage was done at several points on the Channel coast. The casualties were nowhere large in number, but some persons were killed. British anti-aircraft guns and the fighter defences were in action throughout the day and one enemy bomber is known to have been destroyed, adds the communique. Many Raiders Checked Heavy gunfire in the outer defences kept many raiders from the inner London zone last night. A bomb killed four persons and injured a number of others when it demolished two shops and two houses. Thirty policdmen were in a canteen .when a bomb struck a London police station. The canteen and gymnasium were practically wrecked. The policemen were rescued from the debris. Only five were injured. A time bomb fell near two shelters, from which 50 people were evacuated. Time bombs also fell in three localities in the Midlands, causing evacuations. A thousand people in a London shelter escaped unhurt when a bomb landed at the entrance to the shelter, which was blocked. Six explosive bombs were dropped on an institution and emergency hospital in a Midlands town, affecting two wings and also the nurses’ home and causing casualties. One was fatal. Many bombs fell harmlessly in country districts. Raiders were reported over many parts of the country in the morning. Five Workmen Killed Five workmen were killed in a south coast town. Anti-aircraft fire shot down a raider near Ipswich. A number of houses were damaged and a water-main burst when three bombs fell in a London area in the afternoon. By mid-afternoon the raiders had bombed 16 districts of Britain, of which 11 were in the London zone. Ten people were fatally injured when the greater part of the Y.M.C.A. headquarters was rendered uninhabitable by bombs. Those killed and injured were mostly in the reading room. Five hundred members who were sheltering in the gymnasium were unhurt. A time bomb fell near the American Embassy, Grosvenor Square, in a recent raid and exploded later, smashing windows. German guns fired across the Straits of Dover this afternoon. A German communique deals briefly with the raids against London. It mentions further large fires on both sides of the Thames.