Nazis Again Vent Their Fury On London

Northern Advocate, 10 December 1940, Page 6

Nazis Again Vent Their Fury On London

(Received 1 p.m.)

LONDON, December 0

A FTER SUNDAY NIGHT’S CONCENTRATED NAZI BOMBING RAIDS ON LONDON, DAYLIGHT FOUND THE METROPOLIS WEARING NEW SCARS, WHICH WERE INVISIBLE FROM A DISTANCE, BECAUSE OF THE CLOAK OF SMOKE FROM EXTINGUISHED FIRES, BUT WHICH ON CLOSE APPROACH REVEALED THE DESOLATION WROUGHT IN LAST NIGHT’S HAMMERING.

■Earlier reports gave general details of the destruction- to buildings, but after midday" reports were eon fined almost exclusively to the tragically high mortality list.

The Germans, as previously, showed special accuracy in attacking hospitals, of which those damaged included a general hospital and a special women’s hospital.

Patients Died of Shock Three night porters were trapped under debris, and are believed to be dead, when a block of hospital buildings was cut in half by explosiye bombs. There were two other deaths in the same hospital. A number of elderly patients died of shock when a heavy high explosive bomb fell in the grounds of another hospital, considerably damaging buildings. Two bombs directly hit unoccupied parts of vet another hospital. Rows of once smart suburban dwellings lay in unrecognisable heaps of ashes and rubble. Crater roads necessitated the diversion of traffic in some areas.

Night of Terror

It was a real night of terror. There was no relief even after midnight. More and more streets revealed the ravages of high-explosive bombs in wrecked buildings and road surfaces carpeted with broken glass. More frequently came the clanging of firebells as units of the auxiliary fire services dashed through the height of the raid.

Ambulances sent glass splashing like water from the roadway to the footpaths as they bore victims to refuges.

City Went to Ground

Four men sheltering in the archway of a school playground were injured. An A.R.P. worker was fatally injured when bombs demolished shops and dwellings in the same area, killing a number. Rescuers were still searching 12 hours afterwards for the missing. Thirty persons were taken to hospital. Flats Demolished." Many, it is feared, are buried under a block of middle-class flats demolished by a bomb. Many casualties occurred in the poorer part of one district, which was severely battered. Two big storage depots were burnt out. A shopping district on the Thames Estuary suffered heavily. A mother, her two children, aged 13 and four years respectively, and a woman lodger were killed, and the father injured and taken to hospital, as a result of a bomb destroying a house in a home counties town. Seven were killed and others injured when a stick of high-explosive bombs hit a row of cottages in an East Anglian village. Four were killed and one injured in south-east England while attempting to examine a time bomb which exploded

All London had gone to ground except members of the volunteer services braving the utmost perils, and newspaper men and other night workers who were carrying on in spite of the horror from the skies. An Air Ministi’y communique this morning stated: “During last night the enemy heavily bombed London and the surrounding districts, and caused many fires, which were put out while the attack was in progress. Work Carries On. “Considerable damage was done to building and houses, and a number of persons were killed or injured. “Bombs were dropped in many districts between London and the soutn and east coasts, and a few in southern England. They caused fires and damage to property, but the number of casualties in these areas was not large. Two of the raiders were destroyed.” In Berlin, officials said bombers from Belgium, Holland and France this morning carried out the heaviest attack on London since September. London carried on as usual this morning. Essential work went on in spite of fresh scars.

German Version

The Berlin news agency says that within two hours after the attack on London, 40 extensive fires were observed in the Government quarter and adjacent districts. The areas suffering most were north of the Thames, comprising Poplar and Bethnal Green. A German communique says: “As a reprisal for R.A.F. attacks on Western Germany, our air force carried out large-scale attacks on London throughout the night.” Fiercest Since September.

The raids extended over a wide area of the city and were as fierce as any since September.

It is believed that the Germans, after concentrating on the provinces, are again aiming the brunt of the attack against London. As the night wore on it became increasingly clear that the Germans were concentrating their utmost fury on the capital. One, heavy bomb brightly illuminated a busy area as a dazzling flash preceded an ear-splitting crash and the tell-tale rumble of falling masonry. Buildings Rock,

Reinforced concrete buildings rocked and glass from windows crashed across the roads to the sickening concussion of other heavy bombs. One of several high-explosive bombs in one London district fell near a building where'night workers were blown off their chairs, lights were extinguished and papers scattered across desks. 1 ' ■ ; Forty bombs fell simultaneously in the same area. A bomb hit an ambulance station, and high explosives hit seven hospitals, four churches, a convent, three vicarages and an A.R.P. post. A time bomb considerably damaged a nurses’ home at a children’s hospital. A shelter was hit in the Thames Estuary area and the occupants were trapped, but were dug out.