SIRENS SILENT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20440, 28 December 1940, Page 11

SIRENS SILENT

LONDON RESPITE ALMOST LIKE PEACE DENIAL OF TRUCE GUARDS ALONG COAST KENT ISLE BOMBED (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 2.50 p.m. RUGBY, Dec. 26. Up to a late hour this Thursday, evening Londoners had not heard the air-raid warning sirens since Monday night. “It is almost like peacetime,” one Cockney said, unconscious of his gasmask and tin hat on his back and that he was walking past a gap made by the destruction of a famous store by a bomb in a busy London shopping centre.

London’s streets themselves showed in contrast to a peacetime Boxing Day in the absence of large holiday crowds owing to the fact that no official Bank Holiday was observed this year. The air still, however, seemed pervaded with- a spirit of quiet enjoyment mingled with- the profound conviction that Britain will see through to the end any big job she has on hand which has been a characteristic feature at the present Christmastide. No R.A.F. Raiding

No bombing operations have been carried out by the Royal Air Force since the night of December 23-24. Any official or unofficial understanding regarding a Christmas truce is, however, emphatically denied in London.

Christmas brought perfect “invasion” weather ovey. the Straits of Dover. The heavily-armed guards lining the Channel coast were doubled against the possibility of a German thrust through the -blanket of fog covering a calm sea. Picked troops armed with Bren guns and other automatic weapons patrolled beaches and watched every cleft and fissure. Guards held up and searched coastal traffic at barricades and compelled the drivers and passengers, whether civilian or military, to produce identity cards. A communique .issued by the Air Ministry and Ministry of Home Security states that a single enemy aircraft dropped bombs oh the Isle of Sheppey early this afternoon; Little damage was caused and there were no casualties. There is nothing further to report. .