IN BRITAIN

Hokitika Guardian, 10 December 1940, Page 5

IN BRITAIN

LONDON ATTACKED A NICHT OF TERROR. (United Press Association • Per Electric Telegraph Copyright). LONDON, December 8. ' German air raids were made on London on Sunday night, which extended over a wide area. These raids were as fierce as any made since September. It is believed that the Germans, after concentrating on the provinces, are again aiming the brunt of tlieir attack at London. A later message says the fury of the attack eased in the early hours on Monday morning. It is believed that this is attributable to a worsening in the weather. A few bursts of anti-aircraft guns were audible at intervals of several minutes during the enemy raiding. Informed Circles at Berlin said: “The Waffo used on Sunday night a new technique in raiding London, termed the “silent attack.” The German pilots said that the raids caused numerous fires.” In Sunday night’s raids on London, as the night wore on, it became increasingly clear that the Luftwaffe were concentrating the full fury on the capital. The raid reached full “blitz” • proportions as. midnight approached. ; One heavy bomb illuminated, for an area of 100 square yards, a busy locality, until it was like day as a dazzling .flash preceded an ear-splitting crash, and the telltale rumble of falling masonry and reinforced concrete. Buildings rocked, and windows ejected their glass across the roads to the sickening concussion of other heavy bombs. One of several high explosive bombs dropped in one London district fell near a building where there were night workers, who were blown off their chairs, while the lights were extinguished and their papers were scattered across their desks. . . Forty bombs fell. simultaneously in the same area. One bomb hit an ambulance station. ••'.High explosive bombs hit seven hospitals, four churches, one convent, three vicarages, and also an A.R.P. post. This caused casualties and demolished a number of houses. One. time-bomb considerably damaged the nurses’ home of a children’s hospital. One shelter was hit in the Thames Estuary. Those in the shelter were trapped, hut they were dug out. It was a real night of terror. There came no relief even after midnight. More and more the London streets revealed the ravages of high explosive bombs in wrecked buildings,, while the road surfaces were carpeted with broken glass. More frequently there came the clanging of firebells as the A.F.S. dashed through the height of the blitz on their terrible errand. The ambulances sent the glass on the roads splashing like water from the roadv aj to the footpath as they bore the victims to'the refuges.

All of" the people of London had gone underground except the volunteer services, who were braving tlie utmost perils, and tho newspapermen and the other night workers who were carrying on in spite of the horror from the skies.

THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT LONDON, December 9. The Air Ministry, in «a communique dated December 9th., states: “During the past night the enemy has heavily boinbed London and the surrounding districts. This has caused many fires, which A.ILF. men put out while the attack was in progress. There has been considerable damage done to buildings and houses. A number of persons have been killed and injured. “Bombs were dropped also in many districts between London and the south coast and the cast coast. A few bombs were dropped in southern England. These caused fires, and damaged property. The number of casualties in these areas was not large. Two German raiders were destioyed. ENORMOUS DAMAGE IN THE LONDON AREA A BIG DEATH ROLL (Received this day at 12.50 p.m.) LONDON, December 9. Daylight found London wearing new scars which were invisible from a distance because of a heavy cloak of smoke from extinguished fires, but which on close approach revealed the desolation wrought by last night s terrific hammering. Earlier reports gave general details of the destruction to buildings, but after midday the sources were confined almost exclusively to the f tragically high mortality list. The Germans, as previously, showed special accuracy m attacking hospitals, of which those damn god included the General Hospital and special women’s hospital. Three night porters were trapped under the debris and are believed to Tie dead, when a block ol hospital buildings was cut in half by explosive bombs. There were two other deaths m 81 T number 1 of elderly patients died Of shock When a heavy high explosicafell in the grounds of another 'hospital, considerably damaging the buddings. Two bombs scored a direct hit on unoccupied parts of yet another hospital. Bows of once smart suburban dwellings lav in unrecognisable heaps. Ashes,

rubble and cratered roads necessitated a diversion of traflic in some areas. Four men sheltering in an archway of a school playground were killed and a member of the A.R.P. fatally injured. lip mbs demolished shops and dwellings in the same area, killing a number of people. Rescuers were still searching, 12 hours afterwards, for the missing. Thirty were sent to hospital. Many are feared to be buried under a block of middle-class flats demolished by a bomb. HEAVIEST SINCE SEPTEMBER BERLIN, December 9. OHicials here said that German bombers. which went from ’dromes in Belgium, Holland, and France, this morning carried out the. hea\iest attack upon London since September. DOVER SHELLED LONDON, December S. After three days' silence, the German long-range guns on too mist-veiled French coast were active in a briei, hut fairly intensive, bombardment ol the Dover area. A QUIET DAY. LONDON, December 9. Soon after dusk to-night the Air Mm- ■ istry of lto me Security issued a communique on enemy air activities over » Britain during daylight boms, whirl. . said, “There i> nothing to report.