Evening star., 1940-11-30
London Beats Off
Most Of Raiders
Heavy Day Assault
Germans Also Attack
Convoy Flying
Burroge Balloons

LONDON, Nov. 30-The Nazi air
force made one of its strongest
drives in recent weeks to bomb
London today, but only few of
the hundred or more planes which
roared toward the capital got past
the outer ground defenses and the
r. A. F.
There were two daylight raids by
midafternoon, following a night at
tack in which the Germans used
upwards OF 300 bombers against
London and the home counties,
while hundreds of others struck at
the Midlands and the Mersey River
area.
The first of the daylight raiders
came over the Thames Estuary in
waves of 80 planes. Anti-aircraft
guns barked and fast Hurricane
and Spitflre fighters zoomed to the
attack, quickly breaking up the
Nazi formations and forcing most
of the planes back.
Some bombs were dropped in a
London residential district. One
hit building and sent a small
tower crashing on a taxicab in a
main shopping street. Pedestrians
dashed to cover.
Planes Attack Convoy.
German planes also attacked a
convoy flying barrage balloons.
Persons on shore heard anti-air-
craft fire from the ships and bomb
explosions and saw high columns of
water.
Exchange Telegraph reported that
towns in Southern England suffered
heavily last night, with six killed in
one town, several injured and much
property damage.
In London. the British Press Asso-
citation said, mothers and babies
escaped when the maternity ward
of a London hospital was hit. There
were more than 80 persons in the
ward, the agency said, but only
slight injuries were reported al
though beds were flung on them and
!. debris almost buried them.
Uniformed German sources
said about 400 tons of explosives
and So tons of incendiaries were
dropped on London during the
night, in q large scale attack"
Secondary raids were said to have
been directed against Birming-
ham, Liverpool and Plymouth,
while Italian flyers attacked
1pswich)
Mysterious Weapon.
For the second night mysterious,
bluish-white beam of light stabbed
the darkness over London, arousing
speculation that it might be
mystery weapon"
Reports were current, too, that
Blenheim bombers reftted as fight
ers and equipped with an "ear" for
detecting hostile planes were having
increased success intercepting night
raiders. This weeks bag of German
planes was said unotficially to have
boosted Nazi losses over and around
Britain to 5000 since the war
started.
The German raiders in the first
London daylight alarm this morn
ing dropped a bomb which damaged
two buildings in a residential dis
} trict.
MANY fires" were started in the
London area by last nights bomb
Ing, but all were under control by
early morning. the Air and Home
Security Ministers said II joint
communique.
Invasion Ports Bombed.
British bombers were reported to
have had busy night. toe, raiding
Bremen and Cologne in Germany,
as well as the frequently bombed
invasion ports"
Widespread damage to houses in
the London area and "a few deaths"
were acknowledged by the COM
munique. 1t said lesser raids were
carried out virtually to the four
corners of the island kingdom and
mentioned Liverpool, focus of the
air attacks the night before, as Wis
tied again. However, it said, neither
casualties nor damage were heavy
Some British sources attributed
the severity of the raid on London
to German hope that the capitals
anti-aircraft defenses had been
weakened to rush guns to hard
pressed cities in the Midlands and
northwest.
Curtain of Steel Greets Nazis.
If the Nazis entertained such
: thoughts they must have been un-
pleasantly surprised by the curtain
of steel that greeted them, these
sources added.
Abandoning formation flying, the
raiders approached London from
various directions and dropped flares.
flame bombs and high explosive
bombs.
A suburban shopping center, hos
pital and movie theater were among
structures hit by bombs. In one
London district German planes
roared over at the rate of two
minute
A mother and her two children
were killed when six bombs demol-
ished housing development in a
southeast coastal town. Six were
known dead and others injured in
a district near London.