RAIDS ON MIDLANDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24432, 18 October 1940, Page 2

RAIDS ON MIDLANDS

“WAR EFFORT NOT IMPEDED” DAMAGE DESCRIBED AS SLIGHT Though industrial areas in the Midlands have had their full share of German bombing raids, the damage has been almost negligible and the war effort has not been impeded. This was stated recently in an interview given in Christchurch bv Mr H. Ashford, director of an old-established textile firm in London, who left England on a business tour eight weeks ago. When he left London, Mr Asnford said, the intensified raids had not begun. He could say, however, that at Home the people definitely were far from demoralised by the raids. The onlv thing the raids did was to annoy the people. Where he lived in the Midlands, between Coventry and Birmingham, he had spent three to five hours on each of his last six nights in air raid shelters. But in spite of raids the Midlands people were carrying on seven days a week, the damage was comparatively slight, and casualties in Birmingham (with its 2,000,000 people) and other towns were comparativelv few.

“ Certainly the raids have not attained their objective, they have not impeded the war effort to any extent worth mentioning, and the people are quite accustomed to them,” Mr Ashford said. “ I know the Midlands well, and I do not know of any military damage of any consequence. You certainly have to look for the damage. Broken glass, of course. A few holes. But the anti-aircraft defences are very solid now. and the balloon barrage keeps the aeroplanes well up. The barrage is unquestionably very effective.”

Mr Ashford said that it was quite apparent that the British people were never in doubt about their ultimate victory, but they realised that the struggle would be hard and were meeling it.