DAMAGE RATHER LESS SEVERE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23759, 12 September 1940, Page 9

DAMAGE RATHER LESS SEVERE

FEWER CASUALTIES REPORTED

SEVERAL FURTHER FIRES CAUSED

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received September 12, 12.30 a.m.) _ . .... Sept. XX Londoners again spent most of the night in air-raid shelters. The raid, the fourth in succession, lasted for eight and a-half hours. Although the attacks do not appear to have been so intense as on the three previous nights, they probably covered a wider area. Air raid sirens sounded in London five times yesterday (Tuesday), from 1.7 p.m. to 8.17 p.m. The first four warning periods were of short duration; the fifth lasted until 4.47 a.m. to-day. Immediately after the first alarm there was a thrilling dogfight over London between enemy aeroplanes and British fighters. The exchange of machine-gun fire was heard in the crowded streets. Bombs fell in Kent and Sussex in the afternoon, causing injury to a few people. Perfect Night for Attack Last evening Londoners, whose calm conduct in the face of death and destruction from unseen airmen is highly praised by the neutral press, settled down stoically to "enjoying another night of it." The Germans had a perfect night for their attack. There was a fair amount of cloud and a bright moon. The first bombs fell on some allotments in a suburban area, and then an attack was made on the other side of the city. Two German bombers were picked up by the searchlights and were fired upon. They were driven back and then they unloaded their bombs. One bomb crashed through a block of flats in a London square. Bombs again hit a large maternity hospital, but fortunately all the patients had been removed and no one was injured. A glow toward the east of London early this morning indicated that there were large fires in that area. Bomb Hits School Sheltering 500 People The raid brought tragedy again to the East End. Five hundred homeless people were in a school where they had been given temporary accommodation. The school, which was a two-storey building, was hit directly by a large high-explosive bomb or an aerial torpedo. It is feared that a large number of people lost their lives. In another part of London 3000 people were sheltering in the basement of a building on which a direct hit was made by enemy aircraft. Everyone escaped. "Enemy aircraft delivered a further succession of bombing attacks on the London area during the night," states an official communique. Bombs were also dropped at random in the suburbs and surrounding districts. Fires were caused in warehouses and factories on the riverside and in the city. Some damage was also caused in other parts of London, but reports indicate that these were less severe and casualties were considerably lighter than on the previous night. Slight Damage in Other Areas Bombs were also dropped in South Wales, the Bristol Channel area, and in north-west and north-east England. Only slight damage and a small number of casualties are reported from these areas. British fighters, concludes the communique, shot down another enemy bomber, making two for the day. Raiders during the night were over the north-west of England, the Midlands and the south-east, where eight bombs were dropped in the centre of a town, demolishing a number of buildings and causing some casualties. Wales was subjected to a heavy raid lasting several hours. Bombs fell in the centre of one town, and a number of persons were injured. Bombs were also dropped in a residential suburb of a northwest coastal town. London had an uneventful air raid warning about mid-day to-day.