PORTSMOUTH RAID

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 7 December 1940, Page 6

PORTSMOUTH RAID

CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE DIRECT HIT ON CINEMA 1 NUMBERS OF PEOPLE BURIED UNDER DEBRIS LU.P.A.-By Electric Telegraph-Copyright] ! (Received 7th December. 1.55 p.m.) LONDON. 6th December. A south coast town, claimed by the ; Germans to be Portsmouth was heavily bombed last night and considerable damage done but the casualties are not yet known. When a bomb hit a cinema about 50 people were trapped but there was no > panic. Numbers are still buried under the debris in a working-class district. A 13-year-old girl, who is still partially buried after twelve hours, was given morphia and warm drinks. Nurses acted as firemen when incendiaries set fire to a hospital. They beat out the flames with brooms until the firemen arrived, then* when an auxiliary pump went out of action they formed a bucket chain. All the nurses lost their personal belongings and money. Three bombs recently fell in the grounds of Windsor Castle and another damaged Royal Lodge in the Great Park. Bombs which fell in the Kentish village of Kilndown smashed stained glass windows in the church valued at i £30.000. which were purchased in Munich in the last century. Recently a bomb fell on the lawn of Holyrood House, disinterring the remains of Scottish Kings and Queens and breaking the Palace windows. High explosives and incendiaries hit Greenwich Observatory damaging Wren parts erected in 1675. [ Other bombs damaged the ring of the famous Blackfriars Boxing Stadium. The Duke of Gloucester was inspecti ing military units recently when two , German bombers flew over as he was • leaving the car. Several bombs were , dropped but nobody was hurt.