WAR HAPPENINGS

Hokitika Guardian, 17 September 1940, Page 6

WAR HAPPENINGS

LONDON FIRE SERVICES TRIBUTE TO WORKERS. (Per British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Sep. 14. People in London have been warned not to leave buildings unattended during air raids, as this, accentuates , the danger ol' tires spreading before they are detected. Private ear owners are asked to keep out of tile city, or ii they have to enter it, not to do so with empty seats, but to give lilts to pedestrians.

The Home Secretary has sent the following message to the tire authorities in England and Wales: “Ail see* lions of tiie civil defence services have responded so magnificently to. the calls made upon them that it might seem ■ invidious to draw dis-. tiolitions, but 1 am sure that no one would begrudge the word of special commendation that T feel moved to .vend to members of the lire services, regular and auxiliary. 'Their- work, draught, with great danger in itself, • has been often rendered- hazardous in the extreme bv sustained and. re-, pea ted-, enemy attack by bomb and] niaclnne-guit. /Nowhere has. there, •been any ftinchjng., Again and, again, with dauntless coinage and at . the price of many, casualties, ~a . fire tlpiy might, wvell have, engulfed ; a wdioldi 'district, has been brought under con-, trol.. Further apd; greateryttfals-may be ahead, but I am confident that in meeting them, the fire •’services, will, .only, add lustre to tlieii:; already biilrliant achievements. ’ ’ ) • ;

BRITISH PARACHUTER.

MISTAKEN FOR GERMAN.

RUGBY, Sep. 14

The Watchfulness of British people to prevent-enemy pilots who have been shot down or- descend over the country by, parachute, from escaping is. well known. A- story is told, not 'Without humour, by a R. A.E. pilot Who had.‘ to. bale, out owing to -. his -oxygen-• apparatus catching fire.';;.“T came down ■ rather too quickly , apd landed heavily in a potato, field,” he -said. I was somewhat winded. I. had hurt my legs and : back,'’but ‘ not seri-r----ously. Before I- could get.,up, half, a.. dozen land ; girls came run rung - up with' sticks,:. spade’ and a'v v lib,t .pit.cli 7 yforki. I called oat-: “Hello girls!; Help, me out of my brolly, will you;?- Realis-. ing that I was British, they dropped their weapons. I asked 4 if - they, could get a car or ambulance. Suddenly they dived for their sticks again, yelling hold off’ ! I looked round to see them running at a Home Guard <who was stalking me v with his rifle to liis <Bhoukk*l>-.”-‘» "«* * m

POLISH A.IRMEN. IN- RAID,OVER LONDON, RUGBY, Sep. 15. '"The dommarider-in-CTiief of'" tlw Bomber Command,: Air Afarshal -Sir C. F. S. Portal, to-day sent the following message to the O.,C> dfe-? tilt bomber station where Polish squad r rons are based, which "took partin last (night’s raid on *.•. Boulogne.: •Hearty congratulations to your Polish crews on the successful coin•pletian. of their first, operation, iusfc night.’’

Last night’s -successful attack on Boulogne, in which Polish bomber squadrons co-operated with R.A.I', units, was . the first raid against the eneni) to* be carried out by Polish bomber crews operating, from British bases. The two squadrons from which the crews were drawn were formed only a few weeks ago. The pilots why. took part in last night’s raids are between 20 and 23 -years of age, and like the members of, their crews,, they have all had previous fighting experience in the Polish Air Force.

Describing their raid on Boulogne; ail observer in one of the Polish bombers said: “The .searchlight and anti-aircralt opposition was every bit as - bad as we had been led to expect,but these aircraft of yours are good, land we were able to evade most of it. We saw our bombs striking the harbour works and bursting on the basins, and' we came lioiiie very much happier than we had been for a long time.”