Despite Bombs London Will Remain London

Northern Advocate, 16 September 1941, Page 7

Despite Bombs London Will Remain London

New Zealanders need not be afraid of finding no London to visit after the war. London will be there and sub- | stantially the same as the London that has been, dear unto the heart of all Englishmen no matter to what distant parts of the Empire they might roam. This is the message confidently carried to the Dominion by Mr. Lloyd Powell, who was in Whangarei yesterday performing his duties as examiner to the Royal College of Music. He expressed the fear that New Zealanders, so far removed from the capital city of the British Empire, might gain false impressions of the damage wrought by the severity of enemy air attacks. Actually the area of London was so vast that, even after a severe bombing, a man could walk the streets and find little signs of damage.

Light Damage Sometimes a bomb would literally blow the inside from a building yet the shell remaining gave the impression that little damage had been done. Substantially London remained unchanged. Mr. Powell left London in March. Then, he said, one could walk from the Marble Arch to Selfridges without seeing any signs of damage. Lewis’ — shopping establishment well-known to Londoners—appeared as a complete wreck, but then there was no further sign of damage, excepting broken windows, right down to Regent Street. London life, too, carried on much the same as in peace time. Shopping continued as usual, the restaurants were filled, people moved about as before. Only in the sphere of organised amusements—cinemas, theatres and concerts —did war time effect a change. No performances were given after dark, although in some cases day-time matinees proved popular. But people dined and danced and took the air raids quite casually. Take Bombs Casually Attending a wedding celebration at the Cumberland Hotel when an air raid was in progress, Mr. Powell asked his partner if a particularly loud explosion was caused by an anti-aircraft gun or a bomb. “A bomb,” the lady replied, while they continued to dance. “You may be on duty when something happens or there again you may not,” remarked Mr. Powell, who was an air raid warden attached to a London post during the autumn. It so happened that he and a woman warden exchanged duty nights on one occasion. He spent an uneventful shift, the lady warden was called to the scene of a bomb-burst and found her own home shattered.

Flat Vacated Once Mr. Powell had to vacate his flat for ten days while an unexploded bomb, which fell next door, was being removed. Another bomb fell 20 yards from his sister’s (house, yet only the windows had been shattered. “So much depends on the way the bombs fall, ” Mr. Powell said, pointing out how relatively small was the damage comapred with the size of London. Even after the particularly severe raids in which St. Paul's Cathedral was hit, there were places in the neighbourhood of the cathedral where no signs of damage were visible! In some cases business houses were hit yet carried on as usual in parts of the buildings unaffected by the explosion. One London shop had its windows blown in by the concussion of a bomb. “More open than ever,” appeared on a sign outside, and trading continued. Despite the fact that they were being hammered hard and had proved that they could take it. Londoners and the English people felt no sense of bitterness towards the Germans. Mr. Powell was positive in the statement. No Sense of Bitterness At one time there had been a feeling in some circles that Berlin should be given as good as London received. But when . the British Government had frankly said that with the comparatively limited aircraft available more could come from concentration on actual military objectives, the people accepted the policy with every indication of confidence in the country’s leaders. “As long as I know he’s getting a licking I can take it,” a man had remarked to Mr. Powell after an air raid. “I am perfectly convinced that London. will still be London, the same old London after the war is over,” Mr. Powell concluded. “People need, not hesitate to visit, afraid of tvhat they may discover.”