FOURTH NIGHT

Grey River Argus, 12 September 1940, Page 7

FOURTH NIGHT

LONDON RAIDS LAST EIGHT AND A-HALF HOURS Five Day Alarms PEOPLE'S SUFFERINGS. DOG-FIGHT OVER STREETS. [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, September 10. An air-raid warning was given for the fourth consecutive night in London, at 8.16 p.m., after familiar warnings had been given earlier in the day, none of which was of any long duration. The sirens sounded in London five times to-day, from 1.7 p.m. to 8.17 p.m. The first four warnings were of short duration, the fifth continuing. Immediately after the first alarm, there was a thrilling dog-fight over London between enemy planes and British fighters. The exchange of machine-gun fire was heard in the crowded streets. 'Twenty-two houses were demolished, with casualties, in two adjoining streets in the south-east London area. | A number were killed when a bomb fell at. the corner of two streets in | central London, sending seven houses crashing to the ground. Fifteen hours after a house in south-east London being demolished by a bomb, rescuers were still working to release a family of five, entombed under the debris. A stretcher party were killed while on duty in south-west London. The fire which threatened Bow Church was one of the biggest. Hundreds of firemen worked feverishly in narrow side streets, and saved the church. Many people 'in the east London district have been without gas since the night of September 7. Some localities are temporarily without both gas and water. Londoners, whose calm conduct in the face of death and destruction from the unseen airmen is highly praised to-day by the neutral Press, settled down stoically to “enjoying another night of it,” in the words of one Cockney, who said he was grateful to the Germans for making him realise that the sun really rises in London. Fewer Casualties

(Received September 11, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 11. After raiding over London, which lasted for eight hours and thirty minutes, during the past night, the all clear signal was given this morning. The casualties appear to have been fewer, than on the previous nights. The worst were in a two storey building in the East End, where live hundred homeless people had been given a refuge. A bomb destroyed the building, and it is feared many of those within lost their lives. Fires were caused in more warehouses and along the river Thames. One small area of buildings was determinedly and repeatedly attacked, the fires caused acting as a guide. In one shelter, 31000 people were uninjured when a bomb hit its base. In South London a bomb wrecked a number of houses. The underground railways are operating in a curtailed way, except in some short sections. Communal feeding is available for th’e many whose homes have been destroyed. The Health Minister asks those able to assist to aid the homeless with furniture and accommodation. The Lord Mayor has started a refugee relief fund. OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF TUESDAY NIGHT RAIDS' (Received September 11, 11.40 p.m.) LONDON, September 11. It is officially announced that enemy planes delivered a further succession of bombing attacks on London on Tuesday hight. Bombs also fell at random in many places in the suburbs of London and in the surrounding districts. Fires were caused in the riverside warehouses and factories in the City of London, and also in many other parts of London, where damage was done. Preliminary reports indicate that the damage and the casualties have been considerably lighter on Tuesday night than on the preceding night. A fuller statement will be made in due course.

MANY KILLED IN SCHOOL (Received September 11, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON. September 10. Many bodies have been so far recovered from a school in the east of London which received a direct hit by a bomb on Monday. There were five hundred refugees in the school. Some nersons who were extricated from the mass of twisted girders and debris were still aiive. but they died when en route to hospital.

MATERNITY HOSPITAL HIT LONDON, September 11. A large maternity hospital in the London area was hit during Tuesday night’s raid. All of the patients were evacuated.

MOVING THE DEBRIS MANY THOUSAND MEN ENGAGED (Received September 11, 10 p.m.) LONDON, September 11. Between eighteen and twenty thousand Civil Defence members who are working in shifts, in addition to contractors’ employees, are toiling at a high speed in an effort to clear the debris and to restore normal conditions in London’s bombed areas.

WALES HEAVILY RAIDED (Rec'eived September 11, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 11. Wales was subjected to a heavy raid to-day for several hours. Bombs fell in the centre of a town. A number of persons were injured.