EAST LONDON HAVOC

Grey River Argus, 10 September 1940, Page 5

EAST LONDON HAVOC

DOCKLAND DAMAGE

Scene on Sunday AFTER THE RAID. [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, September 8. Following the longest and worst London raid on Saturday night, the docks area in East London presented a scene of destruction extending over whole streets. During the night there was a red glare over half the south-east sky. : One fire in the East End, which made' a huge glow, turned out to have oc-l curred in a single three-storey building, most of which was saved. In the East End itself firemen and ,A»R.P. personnel worked magnificently. Bombs fell as they played hoses on fires or crawled through smoking debris. They saved hundreds of lives and thousands of pounds worth of property. Planes numbering 150 approached shortly before 4 p.m., and 200 were' sighted soon .afterwards. Then, for, 90 minutes, the fiercest air-battie of the war wa's fought from the Straits of Dover to the Thames Estuary. Large numbers were destroyed, or turned-back before they reached the outskirts of London. Three, eluding

the cordon of fighters before reaching e the docks, which were the chief ob- ” jective, had run the gauntlet of a e curtain of gunfire. s . Searchlights straddled London [ from end to end. From below the t | Thames Estuary barrage appeared ■ 'like continuous lightning, with the flash of a bursting bomb every now and then. The enemy’s second raid caught thousands of people helpless. Ordered from their homes when the sirens wailed again, they dropped bundles of belongings as they rushed to shelter, amid screaming bombs. The shelters in one district could not cope with the rush. A reporter saw women clutching babies, hiding them with their bodies on the pavement, and hugging buildings for the slightest shelter. Families evacuated under the orders of the police were housed in schools, institutes, and other public buildings. People felt many bomo explosions, even in the deep shelters. The Mayor and Mayoress in one area were shepherding 500 people in a shelter, when their own home was damaged. The Mayor called for volunteers among the able-bodied people, who responded, and left the shelter, to help the injured in the streets. A bomb completely demolished a theatre. Many women and children were killed or injured, outside the theatre. > A bomb, striking an East London shelter in which 1000 people were taking refuge, including many mothers and babies, produced agonising scenes. At least 14 were killed and 50 seriously injured. The bomb, by a million-to-one chance, fell directly down the ventilator shaft It was the only vulnerable place in the pow-erfully-protected shelter. Mothers were killed outright, and babies were swept from their perambulators. The roof-support pillars were torn down. The occupants of the shelter lay stunned in heaps. Members of the Civil Defence Corps laboured fearlessly among the debris. Nine doctors answered calls, and saved lives by improvising tourniquets, and dressing wounds by the dim glow of torches. Three children in one family were killed, but their parents escaped. The shelter to-day presented a tragic picture. Perambulators and corrugated iron sheeting lay entangled, also heaps of bed-clothing, pillows, blackened gasmasks, toys, and the remains of meals. A tar distillery on the north bank of the Thames was still burning fiercely, this morning. The Matron of a hospital in Bast London stated that two wards were demolished. There were some deaths, j but it cannot at present be said how : many. j The raiders’ usual tactics were to 1 drop a salvo of bombs, including in- 1 cendiaries, and to dodge wildly away 1 from the searchlights and swerve for j a return dive, in which the remainder < of the bombs were unloaded. Others t merely dropped incendiaries, and j waited until fire illuminated the tar- I get, before swooping down for a ma-

: jor attack. Later raiders apparently 1 strove to keep up or increase the 1 first fires, while bombing any new • objectives they illuminated, regard- ; less of the thickly-populated area. - Two raiders in the. London area dived to about 60 feet, and raked a train with machine-gun fire. The train continued its journey. There were some casualties. A Port of London Authority official stated: “While the docks were considerably damaged, the Port of London is not immobilised. The principal dis- . charging and loading berths are intact and the loss of foodstuffs is not severe. The services will be main-’ tained.” The Transport / Board announced some dislocation of the eastern portion of the district railway and the East London line. An Air Ministry and Home Security communique states: Further particulars are now being given of the heavy attacks directed on London by the enemy, on Saturday evening, and continued on a smaller scale throughout the night. Bombing was widespread, and in the later part of the attack, appeared to be indiscriminate, The major weight of the enemy’s offensive was concentrated on both banks of the Thames, east of the city, especially the riverside, where three extensive fires and a number of others were caused. Much damage was done, and a number of persons rendered temporarily homeless, but were successfully remove! from the danger area, and immediate' steps w T ere taken to provide them with food and shelter. Bombs also fell on a utility plant in this area, and some services were seriously interfered with. Many bombs were dropped in the docks of the Port ot London Authority. A large fire was caused in the docks south of the river. Elsewhere, some warehouses were damaged, and several barges were set on fire. The attacks in other parts of London were not comparable in magnitude, but many bombs were dropped. In South London, two schools were seriously damaged. Fire was caused in Central London and houses demolished in various districts. Throughout all these areas, the

civil defence services speedily and successfully dealt with the tasks imposed on them, which included the

evacuation of several hundred children from an area rendered, dangerous by fire assisting to restore ra'l communications, which suffered considerable interruption—although the trunk lines were not seriously affected—and -more particularly, firefighting, which imposed a very heavy task upon the fire services, many of whom carried on work under bombardment.

Outside the London area 1 , the only report of major damage comes from an oil installation in the Lower Thames, where a large fire was I caused. I These attacks much exceeded in 1 scale any that preceded them, and I heavy casualties have been incurred. As expected, there is evidence from ' all areas of the high courage and I 1 resolution with which the civil popu-] I lation accepted the challenge. | The Ministry of Transport stated: ( Early on Sunday afternoon, steps had| already been taken to restore thS| damage done by last night’s air-raids j which caused some dislocation of transport, particularly in the areas' in south and east London. As a temporary measure, alternative routes , are being worked, and special. bus services have been arranged. The quiet courage and endurance of Londoners was remarked on by all who have visited the different areas, after the heavy German air attack last night. Despite the fact that they have read in the Press of the damage to docks, greyhound racing track, and variety theatre, also that they themselves have seen various small houses wrecked as the result of German bombing, people in the districts affected, from the East End to the crowded southern suburbs, are going quietly on with their usual affairs and to many, the fact that the pressure of gas in their own homes is not at its usual strength, and therefore makes cooking the midday meal a longer business, is the only cause for complaint, and that a humorous one.

Steps have been promptly taken to repair the damage which led to the dislocation of transport in certain areas in south and east London. Alternative routes of travel were put into operation, and special services improvised. At the same time, willing volunteers are helping more those families which had to leave their homes, either as the result of actual bombing damage, or of their area being rendered temporarily dangerous to live in. Probably the most important reaction is that Londoners realise the Germans are redoubling the fury of the attack, and are bracing themselves to meet the onslaught. Work, which was suspended in some factories until the early hours, resumed to-day, so the output is not diminished.

During the big raid one Polish pilot shot down 10 bombers and three fighters over the Thames Estuary. A Hurricane squadron,, composed of Canadian pilots, had the second best score, shooting down 11. Czechoslovak pilots bagged five. THAMES SIDE ORDEAL. LONDON, September 8. The fire services dealt with one outbreak after another throughout Saturday night. For hours the sky was lit by the glare from the biggest fires over 'the Thames. The sympathy of all Britain goes out to the East End, where most of the casualties occurred. The ba'nks of the Thames received the main weight of the attack. The docks area, where the biggest and most serious fire occurred, felt the full fury of the onslaught, but Londoners in much more westerly areas also felt the blast of the bombs.