ENEMY AIR RAIDS

Grey River Argus, 5 December 1940, Page 7

ENEMY AIR RAIDS

ON BRISTOL CITY Every Night for a Week [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, December 3. For the seventh consecutive night, German bombers raided Bristol on Monday. The attack began shortly after dark and continued until nearly midnight. Several fires were started and some persons were killed, but: the number was not large. The Germans, last night, concentrated their attack on Bristol. Children and nurses displayed remarkable heroism when a hospital was bombed. The nurses, some of whom are still in their ’teens, threw themselves over the children, to protect them. The children sang and cheered as bombs fell round them, and while they were carried L* safety. Some babies did not wake up, despite the pandemonium. Several persons were killed while sheltering in the cellar of an inn, including the licensee, his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and their baby. German reports of last n.ght’s bombing of Bristol, make no attempt to disguise the fact it wa s indiscriminate, for Berlin messages claim that Bristol has been "coventrated," a word coined by the Germans to denote the kind of destruction they claim to have done to Coventry. This tacit admission of the indiscriminate nature of last night’s bombing of Bristol, i s fully borne out by early reports from that town. Flares preceded the dropping of incendiaries and high explosives which, as in the case of Coventry and Southhampton, caused damage to shops ana residential premises. The fires started were efficiently and rapidly attacked by regular and voluntary civil defence services, whose personnel, assisted by other voluntary workers, again proved their heroism, by braving fury from the skies throughout the on-, sl'aught. Church premises were among those reported damaged by fire. A children’s hospital was bombed and set on fire, but all the patients’ - were successfully evacuated, and a' ! have been accounted for. AT OTHER PLACES. LONDON, December •> Anti-aircraft batteries drove Oif raiders trying to penetrate another south-west town. Two explosives and 100 incendiaries showered an outlying Welsh coastal town, last night. Fires were quickly extinguished. ■ , An official communique states: Ther e have been a few flights over East Anglia, to-day, by single enemy aircraft. Some of these flew over the London area, and dropped bombs on the outskirts. Bombs were also dropped in Sussex and East Anglia, but the damage was slight and the casualties were small. Raiders were also over Liverpool and other places last night. I

LONDON RAIDED AGAIN. IN NIGHT AND DAYLIGHT LONDON, December 3 After a night comparatively free from raids by German bombers, London had an alert in the early hours of this morning. Nine bombs were dropped in one district, some falling in a field. No one was killed and there was little damage. Diving out of the clouds, the enemy dropped nine bombs in th e London area, this morning. A few minutes after a family left for work, a bomb fell directly on their home. A single low-flying raider bombed a London residential district. In one house, a woman was blown out of bed by a bomb-blast. Two policemen were gassed, while rescuing people under the debris. ' It is officially stated that one of our fighters was lost over Britain yesterday, but the pilot is safe. London Surprised HEAVY RAIDING RESUMED ’ (Received December 4, 9.25 p.m.) LONDON, December 3. On Tuesday night London had it? noisiest raid since Friday last. The Londoners, who had gradually become inclined to a belief that the battle over London had ended for the present, were startled on Tuesday night by air raid warnings. Thereafter there was heavy ground fire and the incessant sound of planes flying fairly low. Bombs were dropped in several London areas.

Five Million Bombs DROPPED IN ENGLAND DURING NOVEMBER. (Received December 4, 9.30 p.md BERLIN December 3. The German Official News Agency states that the Luftwaffe carried out twenty-three large-scale attacks upon England last month. Over five million explosive bombs were dropped. The weight of bombs dropped each night ranged between one hundred tons and six hundred tons.

Tuesday Night Raids WEST MIDLANDS TOWN MAIN TARGET. [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Received December 4, 9.40 p.m.) LONDON, December 3. On Tuesday night, a West Midlands town was selected as the night’s principal target by the German aircraft. Incendiary bombs illuminated half a dozen districts. Some persons are believed to have been buried under demolished houses. r WELSH MINES IDLE. LONDON, December 3. • A deputation ' told Mr MooreBrabazon that over half the anthracite collierie s in Wales are idle, as a result of lack of railway transport. The whole industry will ne forced to close down, if a solution is not found soon, resulting in unemployment for 24,000 miners.