FIRE BOMBS SHOWERED ON CITY

Southland Times, Issue 24332, 13 January 1941, Page 5

FIRE BOMBS SHOWERED ON CITY

(United Press Association—Telegraph Copyright) (Received January 12, 10 p.m.) LONDON, January 11. The enemy’s bombing on Friday was practically confined to Portsmouth, which suffered its most severe raid of the war. The Lord Mayor of Portsmouth in a tribute to the citizens and the civil defence services said, ‘‘At last the blow has fallen. Our proud city has been hit and hit very hard by the enemy. We are bruised but not daunted.” All reports of the raid are in agreement that the raiders were kept very high by an intense anti-aircraft barrage. They adopted the newest practice of the German Air Force of showering down fire bombs in the early stage of the attack. After a few hours there was a pause and later a new wave of raiders arrived. The damage was minimized in a number of areas by the efficient work of fire bomb fighting parties, who extinguished hundreds of incendiary bombs. Several churches and cinemas were hit in the city. A hospital receiving casualties was damaged. It was almost impossible for the fire fighters to deal with all the incendiary bombs and a number of fires burned for some time while the raiders dropped high explosive bombs. The Germans renewed the attack later in the night, A torrent or incendiary bombs rained down. A high explosive bomb hit a Roman Catholic church killing four women. They were found kneeling, with their heads bowed as if in prayer. A mother and son were killed when a raidei- bombed a southeast coast town in the afternoon.

An early alert in the London area on Saturday night started another Nazi raid on the capital, during which a number of fire bombs and some high explosive bombs were dropped. The fires were checked and the civil defence services dealt quickly and effectively with hundreds of incendiaries The raid lasted two hours.