Evening star., 1941-07-18
(FUth OF a SerieS.)
3y ROBERT J. CASEY.

bN u. SFNSGh.
Yoreign CORRESPONDENT Of The Star and
Chicago Daily News.
ut ant the dud that makes you
mud
IT'S lust the ones that bust -"
Ancient Artillery Lyric.
Having been ticketed for quick
and messy death, We met at very
conservative. decorous and deserted
club for cocktails and inspection.
Max Corpening said under his breath
that he didn't think 1t would be
a very good club because it still had
glass in the windows and tiles on
the roof. The better clubs in Lon
don. it was Capt. CorpeningS Opln-
ion, had long ago been battered into
rubble-the better the club the finer
the rubble.
Our host, the press relations Of
ficer, passed the anchovieS and men
toned cheerily that he expected
trouble.
ITS not a hunch," he said. IT'S
observation. ThereW be a brlght
moon tonight and I have noticed
that the Nazis go for our battery
every night when there's a full
moon. THEY'VE become increasingly
violent, so I should advise you TO
wear YOUR tin hats, or better still,
stay at home and play bridge IN
some comfortable dugout."
Competent Prophet.
Neither of us had tin hat we
didn't want to stay home-it was
too dangerous there. And nobody
IN London knew the location OF
any comfortable dugout.
"Oh, very we'll" said the press
officer. But don't say you weren't
warned-that is, if you live long
enough to say anything at all.
EVERYBODY laughed heartily because
everybody mistook him for bad
humorist instead of a competent
prophet-oh, very competent, in
deed!
The colonel in command of the
anti-aircraft artillery group in this
neighborhood came in Just about
that time. and with him a major
whose particular charge was the
battery we were about to visit.
They slipped cocktails, listened to the
press officers report and did not
seem impressed.
Il don't see why they should 60
for the battery tonight in partl-
cular" said the colonel. They go
for it every night. And it's my be-
lief that they aren't foollng,'
Bomb Confirms Prophecy.
"ItIl be earlier than usual to-
hight" said the major. There
goes the siren The boys are over
10 minutes ahead of last nights
schedule" He tilted his glass. Il
guess we'd better be going"
1t may or may not be essential TO
the continuity of this piece to
mention that they gave London
bad beating that night. The first
bomb crashed a few hundred feet
from the club before the alert had
quit screeching. A taxi journey
through the nearby park begins TO
present some of the problems of
safari.
I'll go in my own car" said the
Colonel The Major can ride with
you and help the driver guess where
he's going. You can't expect the
moon for another hour or so and
It'll be bad going. If I don't see
you again, cheerlo."
You knew what he had been talk
ing about once the cab got under
way. The streets were darker than
tunnels except for little green crosses
at the unseen intersections and
larger blobs of light marking craters
In the pavement. The planes over
head were numerous and noisy and
bombs had begun to come down at
a rate of about one every two
minutes, and all of them apparently
right in this neighborhood.
Variety of Detours.
We picked a course cheerfully
from hole to hole and from police
man to policeman, past irregular
piles of masonry to some of which
fresh plaster dust clung. We drove
over sidewalks and terraces and up
what seemed to be impossible alleys
In countless detours. Then presently
We were on a hill road with trees
around us and a white picket fence
flashing along on our left.
Wen probably get there all right
now" said the Major. There won't
be many more houses to fall on us