IN ENGLAND

Hokitika Guardian, 6 December 1940, Page 2

IN ENGLAND

DAMAGE AT DOVER

Our West Coast officer on service in England, writes: —As I sit in the tent doing this letter the Powers of Hell are fighting out an air battle right over my head. Being right overhead it. is perfectly safe for us unless one should happen to drop straight -down. When you read of the air being full of planes it is no exaggeration —I have just seen th<?m, over this part of Kent in waves of a dozen or more, so high that the biggest machines look like fish. They were met by some spitfires we could not see, and the fight has been going oil now for nearly a quarter of an hour .One parachutist has fallen about a mile away, (whose I do not know) and the screaming of the pianos is getting lower and lower as they fight to earth. At this precise moment there is a. lull which would seem tu indicate the end of the battle; we to lick our wounds and wait for the next attack, they to count their losses at home and iplan 'the next raid. It is a vicious cycle to consider. There was very little A.A, fire, so apparently the raid was not directed against. London. Last night the afr was brilliant for hours with the flashes and the total count was l<o planes which will not return to the French aerodromes they came from. We seldom sec the defending planes until the Hup arrives; then the air is full of screaming engines, shrill whistlings and the rat-tat-tat of the multiple machine guns and the deeper crack of the Mcsscrschmitt cannon. We don’t like to hear the. latter, a.i it means that one of the Huns is sitting on a British tail. There is certainly a strange variety of noises. You may wonder at the typing when we are still out in the field waiting for the- invasion. Since T wrote the last batch of letters t have had the machine brought out from camp, as there is no telling how lon'g wo will he here yet. It all depends on mein Herr. The way the wind is blowing to-day, does not make his prospects very promising for the next few days, but of course ene can’t easily tell what deviltry lie may be up to. Humours wild and fruity are floating round, but there is little reason to them.

You may wonder why I continue to bore you, with air raids, when vour papers will he full of them. Well, they are our life at the moment and fill up the greater part of our time. We talk about having become used to them but a louder nmne or an extra special burst of firing still brings us out under the trees to see all that is going on. Tlu- only fun we get out of them now is seeing the effect they have on the chaps who are joining us from leave and special courses in the north, where the raids are less frequent and less violent. Yesterday was the most satisfactory day I have' had since I have been in. England. The Division did •ictice exercise and I was actually employed at the job for whijjh 1 have been trained. It was pottring with rain and very cold, so that f have experienced some of the worst conditions I will have to put up with —and liked it! After such a long spell of inactivity, it was very refreshing to have a definite job to do and to be able to do it efficiently. I started at 7.30 a.m. and did not take ... my legs off the motor-cycle (except for two spells of a.l hour each) for the next 13 hours. All kinds of exercises were thrown in, including a supreme test of patience on the w r ay home, and I was very tired and satisfied viicn it was over

lii the course of the exercise, I was sent to,Dover —a very long trip —and actually had to interview a' man in Dover , Castle,, miles ’■ down (or SO' it seemed) in the dungeons which are used; for air raid shelters and 1 tile like. The Castle is immense, with walls 20 feet thick and in perfect, condition. I went in by the old bridge over the moat and from the battlements looked right out over the Dover Harbour, the English' Channel and to France. You can imagine the thrill. I have been invited by Ihe person concerned to go back at a more favourable opportunity and bo shown over the Castle. While I was there I had a look at the damage done by bombing and shelling and was surprised to find that it was not nearly so much as I had expected. Of course there are some houses which have been bit /and shattered, but as .for the claim that the whole town had been reduced to ruins, v T hy that is ridiculous. Along the waterfront it is only one house in 100 that has been damaged at all, even by the blast. 1 was really amazed that so little sliow’ed after the concentrated effort that has been put into the attempt to destroy the town. It is the same in London where the damage, although fairly extensive in some parts, is very hard to find unless you know exactly where to go. .No /towns or cities that I’ve been in have been reduced to ruins, and as a matter of fact we live very close to one which is supposed bv the German radio to be non-existent. Since last week T had letters and also various oddments like hits of newspnoers. Many thanks folks. The news that T entered Sandhurst seems to have stirred von no a hit. I am still waiting for the results of mv practical efforts there, hut patience is a virtue, particularly in the Army. Tilings are ptartigg te move