Evening star., 1941-05-12
BY RUSSELL c. LANDSTROM,
Asenniatad preSS War Cnrrespondent

BY RUSSELL c. LANDSTROM,
Associated Press War Correspondent
LONDON, May l2-Arthur Green
wood. minister without portfolio,
whose Job is to rebuild battered
Britain after the war, surveyed
wreckage today in the House OF
Commons, which only four days ago
was a thronged debating chamber.
Standing beside a teetering wall,
Mr.. Greenwood observed rubble,
charred wood and masonry piled SO
feet high where pillars once scared
to the vaulted roof and where oaken
panels and tall windows once had
graced the galleries.
This, too, will come within my
province and I must think about
its reconstruction" he sadly re-
marked.
Among the thousands of bombs
which rained from the moonlit skies
Saturday night we're those which
unroofed Westminster Abbey, dam
aged the British Museum and Big
Ben, the giant clock, and storied
Westminster Hall.
Whole blocks of the sprawling
capital were devoured by flames
which the most strenuous efforts
could not check.
Central Tower Smashed In.
The central tower of the abbey,
known as the Lantern, was smashed
in and wreckage fell on the spot
where Englands Kings and Queens
are crowned but the coronation
chairs had been moved to safety
in August, 1889.
Other relics, too, were being found
safe today amid the wreckage.
Maj. Vyvyan Adams, member
of Parliament. emerged eXcitedly
from the smoky House of Commons
ruins and reported, I've found the
cabinet over there in what used to
be the No lobby. 1t has in it the
signatures of Gladstone and Disraeli.
That at any rate is safe"
The mace is safe, too" said Mr..
Greenwood. Luckily, it was taken
to another room in the building and
this was untouched"
Prime Minister Churchill's rooms
were untouched. as were most of
those of the cabinet ministers.
The bulk of the documents in the
vote Office, too, were saved, but many
papers were smudged and Smeared.
The tomb of the Unknown Soldier
near the west door of Westminster
! Ahl1ory oil Iar
Hotel Hit BY Bomb.
Rescue parties stil were working
today at hotel hit by heavy
bomb which exploded in the base
ment we're 40 persons had taken
refuge. Several bodies had been
recovered. The hotel is uninhabit-
| able
The steely anger of Britons was
expressed by the Rev. Jocelyn Henry
Temple Perkins, sacrist and minor
canon of Westminster Abbey, when
he turned from his prayers with
| the bitter declaration:
Il can imagine the storm of anger
that will sweep over our dominions
and America when the news of this
latest exhibition of Aryan culture
reaches them. The story is
one which will stamp Hitler for all
time"
Damaged Badly.
He said the abbey, in which every
British sovereign from William the
Conquerer to George vi, with the
exception of Edward v and Edward
| VIII, had been crowned, undoubtedly
was damaged gravely, but added 1t
was "Structurally intact except for
relatively small part of it under
and in the immediate vicinity of the
lantern tower"
(The lantern is the central
part of the abbeyD
He credited fire fighters with saw
ing the abbey from destruction, but
bombs crashed through the roof,
! scattered debris through the Confess
sor's Chapel where sat the corona
tion chairs upon which King George
and Queen Elizabeth were crowned
four years ago today and left that
part of the structure open to the sky.
| The abbey's deanery, one Of the
most perfect medieval houses in
England, was destroyed, the cloisters
were flooded and three clergy houses
in the cloisters were ruined.
Parliament Houses Struck.
| Across the street from abbey, con-
struction of which was begun in
1850, bombs also smashed into the
Houses of Parliament
The chamber where the House of
Commons regularly holds its ses-
sions was wrecked so badly it was
believed it would have to be rebuilt
before it could be used again.
! Big Ben, whose chimes are broad
cast throughout the empire as a
symbol of home, had its face black
ened by bomb hit on the clco,:
tower. The apparatus which broad
casts the chimes was put out of
action, but the clock still rang the
hours and its hands kept right on
telling time.
The roof of the members lobby
was smashed and the roof of West
minister Hall, often described as the
most magnificent roof in the world,
was pierced by bombs and the hall
damaged. The hall, started in 1097,
was the scene of some of the most
famous trials in English history.
In another part of the city, 9
shower of incendiary bombs set the
British Museum afire and the root
vas burned through, but most of the
buildings treasures had been re-
moved months ago and the damage
as comparatively light
Capt. E. L. H. Elliott, resident
superintendent of the House ot