FIRES IN LONDON

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24828, 26 February 1944, Page 7

FIRES IN LONDON

RAIDERS OVER AGAIN DEATHS AND DAMAGE TUN BOMBERS SHOT DOWN (Ken), 5.30 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 25 German bombers made another sharp attack on London last night. It has not yet been stated how many planes came over, but 10 are so far known to have been brought down. Fire-watchers in a market town in the south-east cheered as they saw one drop down in flames. Two others crashed in flames in South-east England and a fourth broke in two and fell after a shell had burst just beneath it. High explosives fell in several London districts and a number of people were buried under wreckage when houses and flats were hit.- Many hundred of incendiaries were also dropped. In one place firemen had to cope with a 30ft. blaze from a severed gas main, but none of the fires was of alarming dimensions and they were all soon under control. Crewless Bomber's Landing Mr. Churchill inspected the bomb damage after the raid and at one place watched the fire-fighters at work. As the first raiders came in over the London area last night a heavy barrage was opened. The sky at times was filled with searchlights, flares, tracer bullets and exploding anti-aircraft shells. Incendiaries dropped by the raiders cracked like exploding ammunition when they hit the ground. It is evident , that these incendiaries are of the explosive anti-personnel type. The crew of a Dornier 217 bomber caught in the barrage on Wednesday night over London bailed out unhurt over Wembley and Ealing. The Dornier, undamaged, flew on for 50 miles, and after skirting a thickly populated area made a perfect landing. The crew apparently did not wait for the plane to be hit. Workers' Flats Hit During Wednesday night's raid four high explosive bombs fell on a working class estate and caused heavy casualties when they directly hit two of three five-storeyed blocks of flats. A high proportion of the casualties, the total of which has not been established, will be among children. Few of the residents went to underground shelters because it was too cold.

Members the Pioneer Corps in the afternoon joined the rescue workers recovering bodies from wrecked buildings. The scene in the vicinity of the shattered flats resembles a battlefield. People with bandaged heads are pushing perambulators piled with their belongings. Two large cranes are helping to shift the debris, which in some places is over 12ft. high.

TREASURES BURIED PICTURES AND TAPESTRIES (.Reed. 8.16 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 25 Thousands of pounds' worth of pictures and art treasures were stored 30 feet deep in a wine cellar which was almost blotted out by a bomib during tho raid on London on Wednesdav. They are at present buried under a pile of rubble. A member of the firm in whose care the treasures were, said: "Under the debris is a wonderful pair of candelabra by Guthier that I am keeping for Queen Mary. There is also a Franz Flftls painting worth £15,000 'and Remhrandts and Van Dycks. Besides £IO,OOO worth of pictures, I was keeping two valuable tapestries for Lord Halifax which were removed from the Foreign Office to be cleaned and one of which was destroyed. A Beauvais tapestry worth £6OOO, belonging to Gubenkein, the Armenian oil king, has been saved." ROMMEL TOURS DEFENCES LONDON, Feb. S4 According to the Vichy radio Rommel, who is in charge of the German anti-invasion forces, yesterday inspected the fortifications along the poast of Southern France, from the Alps to the Pyrenees.