Evening star., 1940-09-16
Suicide Squads Save, ,
Palace, II. PauI's 4
ByDigging Out Bombs(
Cathedral Workers Have
Narrow Escapes os Big
Missile FuIIs Twice
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, Sept. 16-"Suicide
squads" removing time bombs which
held sudden death, were disclosed
today to have saved both Bucking-
ham Palace and st. Paul's Cathe-
dral, two of the most historic build
ings in London, from possible heavy
damage.
st. Paul's still was menaced by
four German time bombs buried 10
its vicinity, but giant 1,l00-pound-
er had been removed.
Two time bombs which fell in the
Buckingham Palace precincts, one
of them on the northwest wing, irt>
the third German bombardment of
the royal residence yesterday, have
been extricated and carried TO the
edge of the palace lake.
The Press Association, British
news agency, said one of the bombs
fell near the royal apartments
crashed through palace roof and
landed in bathroom. 1t was moved
by palace A. R P workers, polico
and soldiers. The other fell on the
palace lawn.
Led by 1t. Robert Davies. ma
tive of ST GATHERINGS, Ontario. and
an officer OF the Royal Canadian
Engineers, suicide squad" trucked
of the heavy bomb which for four
days had threatened destruction Of
centuries-old St. Paul's and ex-
ploded 1t harmlessly in the Hackney
marshes outside the city. The blast
ripped out a 100-foot- wide crater.
The workers began tunneling,
only to discover that a 6-inch gas
main had been broken by the bomb.
Three men were felled by gas. and
then the fuel burst into flames,
while the deadly bomb grew warm
beneath them. Extinguishing the Z
fire, the sleepless workers dug on
down 27ls feet to where the bomb
had sunk itself. On Saturday they
hltched ropes to it. .
Bomb Falls Back Into Hole.
Twice. near the top of the hole. \
the polished projectile slipped and
plunged back into the hole whileI.
every man expected instant death
Praying the bomb might be
dud, the men kept at it during tn
forenoon yesterday. 1t was tha
accustomed time for Sunday serv
ices in st. Paul'S, but there wert
no services for the first time in
many years.
In mid-afternoon two tandem
hltched trucks finally dragged out
the bomb. 1t was no dud. Its g.
foot length was fitted with a pro-
fusion of fuses which made it
dangerous even to touch.
Gently it was loaded onto a fast
truck. and 1t. Davies himself dro-c
1t away, with red flags waving to
warn of danger.
The Ministry of Home Securi'v
said, only the courage and tenacitv
of the officer and his non-coms and
men prevented ST. Paul's being lev
eled to the ground.
New Anti Bomb Method.
The London press Yesterday men
toned a new method of combating
these bombs, but no reference to
1t was made by the st. Paul's work
erS, who seemingly had not been
able to use such device.
The News Chronicle said:
Our scientists have found an
answer to that terrible weapon. the
time bomb which Hitler has used
against St. Paul's Cathedral and
Buckingham Palace and other Lon
don public buildings.
Working in hidden government
laboratories the experts have pro-
duced an apparatus which halts
the action Of the bomb. The bomb
then can be safely removed for dis
mantling.
Only volunteers hand-picked for
their GOODNESS under the menace
of sudden death are allowed 10 ap-
proach these bombs
Modern time bombs are canister
shape missiles, smaller than the
average high explosive bomb, which
bury themselves to depths varying
from a few feet in hard surfaces TO
20 feet in soft soil
The timing apparatus is simply an
oxidized plate on which acid begins
to eat as soon as the bomb Is re-
leased.