Evening star., 1940-11-18

week, I was sitting drinking beer
in their apartment with the two
extremely intelligent young men lr
respective charge of the two fire
districts of the city of London-the
East and the West side of the river
Ben Robertson was with me. He
asked one of them how in the Worlc
they ever got the fires out that night
One fire chief looked at the other
and grinned. Then he thought fol
a minute and said quite seriously:
Il was extremely surprised when
they did go out"
Water Cut Off.
The water mains in England
where they do not have the heavy
freezes we in the Northeast OF
America have. tend to be laid close
to the surface. During those eight
terrible days in September they
were smashed right and left, all
over town. Nor was fire fighting
in London as drilled and organized
and veteran as when l saw and
marveled at what is now without
anv doubt the most brilliant and
able fire fighting organization the
world has ever known. 1t does not
keep track of little fires. OF the big
fires it has kept track Of since the
blitz began, there have been over
10000.
The day after the 7th the fires
were hardly out and the Germans
came again. The streets were full
of rubble, blown up from direct hits
filled with glass and brick and fur
niture, plaster, piping and what
have you from houses blown down
Whole telephone exchanges were
out all over town. In almost con-
tinual raiding there is no time tC
clear or repair. Streets, avenues
districts are simply roped off anc
abandoned. No traffic-neither fire
engines nor ambulances can 'get
through.
Time Bombs Removed.
When I reached London detOul
around bomb crater or bomb
damage was. very much the eXcep-
ton rather than the rule-and more
often than not simply avoiding
block from which an uneXplOdeC
time bomb was being removed. II
that agony in September in the
bombed areas, the clear street wa!
almost the exception. And most 0.
the work Of the people who KEEP
London alive and together. who pu
out its fires and dug out It's wound
ed. who shepherded its people, hac
to be done at night in the inky anc
eChoing blaCk-unless by the lgh'
of the fires that made such excel
lent marks for successive waves Of
HeinkelS.
1t is no wonder that Adolf Hitler
stamps and raves at the psyche
pathic British. 1t must be difficult
for such a coward to understand
such courage. Its extremely diff
cult for any one to understand it
But it happened. The Londoner'
stuck it without panic, each day
burying their dead and binding ur
their wounded. each day going bach
TO their businesses. unloading then
boats IN the middle Of it all on tht
bombed docks. opening their stores
putting out their fires and repair.
ing their telephone lines and Watel
mains. shoveling out their streets
going back TO their factories.
End Believed Near.
What no one will ever know now
thank God. is whether even tht
English could have taken it fol
longer than those eight days Mos
Of the most observant, Informed
and intelligent people with whom
talked don't believe they could have
They believe that at that time an.
other few days Of continuous mas!
daylight raids and the fires woulc
have been unextinguishable. tht
streets really impossible, importan
leaders would have been killed
the population finally shell shocked
into flight or submission.
When ii ended as 7 have said, N
one knew it was over. No one
neither the government nor th'
people nor the fremen, nor tn,
police, nor the air raid precautlol
departments nor the R A. F. B,
that time, after eight "a hours il
succession. there was only contlnu
Gus effort. There was no score
keeper TO tell any one whether the,
were gaining ground or losing il
Just continuous accumulative oe
Struction-just short Of, never quit
reaching, chaos.
The pilot I talked most will
about the fight on the last day, tn
/ 18th. is an American. He come
from Los Angeles. He had gone owe
/ to fight in France. gotten out u
join the R. A. F. He had had sew
/ eral hundred hours on light plane
. in America. On September IS het
flown a pursuit ship only for 80
! The morning had been light. Wher
/ he came down at noon he though
| he was through for the day He wa
stepping out Of his plane when tn
orders came to go back up. HI
Established so Years 400