GERMAN BOMBERS STAGE RAID ON LONDON

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 11, 14 January 1941, Page 5

GERMAN BOMBERS STAGE RAID ON LONDON

INCENDIARIES AND EXPLOSIVES FALL “SANDWICH” FASHION

FIRE-FIGHTERS SUCCESSFULLY DEAL * WITH OUTBREAKS

TERRIBLE SCENES IN SUBWAY TRAGEDY

[By Telegraph—Press Received Jan. 13, 7.30 p.m. German bombers failed last stroy London by fire. The rai fighters, but also an army ot pared. .Almost every ineendi pounced upon and quickly ext one period railed for all the skil The raid was almost non-stop, and fire-bombs were interspersed with explosives in sandwich fashion. It is believed the Germans used a new type of fire-bomb in addition to the old. Strange lights and flashes were seen. Two innovations helped to defeat the fire “blitz.” Sandbags placed at. the foot of many lamp-posts proved useful against incendiary bombs. A.R.P. wardens were given authority to enter- premises in case of danger, but complaints were made that too many valuable buildings were left unprotected. Two fire-watchers were killed when a flight of stone stairs collapsed on top of them after an explosive bomb had hit the premises. Three nuns were killed by a bomb which struck a section of a hospital in the London area. Patients had previously been removed. A bomb hit a bus, killing a number. A building which was being used as a hospital was demolished by a direct hit. All the patients were evacuated but two nurses and a fireman are missing. Several were killed and a numberinjured when a bomb fell between two large blocks of flats.

A number of people were trapped when a heaavy bomb hit an office in which they were sheltering. Fire broke out in the wreckage, interrupting rescue work. Six were saved alter the fire had been put out, but the voices of others could still be heard. Efforts are being made to rescue them. A man on the third floor of a building was trapped in a small cave made by masonry when the building collapsed. He was rescued, suffering only a few bruises. Terrible scenes were witnessed when a high explosive bomb fell on a London subway last night, plunging through the surface and

i Association—Copyright! LOXDOX, Jan. 12. night in another attempt to deci found not only London’s firevolunteer “spotters” fully preary that could be reached was inguished. Nevertheless fires at I and resource of the fire-fighters. bringing down debris on people taking refuge below. Many were killed. Rescuers quickly arrived but were confronted with a tremendous problem, as the whole of the roadway had been lifted up and dropped back again. Huge masses of concrete lay between the rescuers and those entombed. Twisted iron girders, lampposts and the remains of a traffic island contributing a chaotic scene. A small fire which broke out just under i the surface was quickly extinguished. The killed and injured were lifted out I and then men and women staggered j through the debris, being helped out I from the crater.

SECOND ATTACK ON LONDON LUFTWAFFE ACTIVITY

VALUABLE PROPERTY SAVED Received Jan. 13, 9.15 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 12. For the second night in succession London was apparently the main target of the Luftwaffe to-night, when a large number of bombs fell in various parts of the capital. The “all clear" was sounaed before midnight. Raiders were also reported over Liverpool and towns in north-east, south-west and western England and South Wales. A bomb which fell, in a London thoroughfare killed eight passers-by and injured a number of others. Although 100,000 fire-watchers were enrolled in London, the number of fires started last night show that too many buildings are unwatched. Firemen in some cases were forced to break down doors in order to put out small fires threatening blocks of property. Newspapers emphasise that while the value of the property saved by the efforts of fire-watchers is incalculable, it could be greater still.