SCATTERED RAIDS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 138, 13 May 1941, Page 6

SCATTERED RAIDS

NAZI BOMBERS’ TACTICS

(United Press Association—Copvright.) (Rec. 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 12. The Germans in Sunday night’s raids avoided mass contact with our defenders, merely carrying out scattered hit-and-run raids. Almost forty areas were hpnihed, but no concentrated attacks were made anywhere. London was avoided. . AIMED FOR PARLIAMENT.

“The German attack on Parliament on Saturday was obviously deliberate, said Mr Victor Goodman, head of the Parliament A.R.P. unit. “They hit us with seven high explosives in addition to a large number of incendiaries all of which were aimed at the target. Spotters dealt with all the incendiaries except some which were most difficult to roach.”

I A gable of Westminster Hall caught fire and was Subscquentlv burned through near the apex, hut the firemen were so prompt that the damage was confined to a strip of the apex of the roof. Thus the most ancient part of Parliament remains virtually intact and is repairable. The fire which destroyed the House of Commons chamber'resulted from an oil bomb hitting the top of the west side. Thp fire burned for some hours, bringing down the steel girdered roof, which caused the floor to collapse. j

An explosive demolished a 27ft turret atop a wall in the Royal Court, killing two War Reserve policemen who were spotting from there.. . . SURVEY OF DAMAGE. A\ estminster_ Abbey, though gravely damaged on Saturday, is structurally intact except tor a part in the vicinity of the Lantern Tower. An incendiary bomb which damaged the Lantern Tower did not damage the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. A good deal of surface damage was done to the Henry VII. Chapel. The library, with thousands of books, valuable manuscripts, and important documents, was destroyed in the Dcanerv.

Most of the private rooms of the Ministers, including Mr Churchill’s, in the House of Comomns, were not damaged, also the House of Commons and House of Lords libraries.

Rescue parties are still working on the hotel which was hit bv an explosive Several bodies have already been recovered. Two women and one man are still missing. The explosion wrecked many rooms, burying the guests under heaps of masonry. A raider bombed three villages in Soutli Wales last night, killing two persons and injuring several.