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W. Earl Hall World War II stories, 1944
1944-08-22 Letter #7
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slug-'40 Air Blitz-4 Passed for Publication Aug 1944 by W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor Letter No. 7 London (Air Mail)--As I moved from one portico to another at St. Paul's cathedral in Old London the other day and looked out upon the block upon block of business buildings which had been leveled by the Nazi blitz of 1940, I kept wondering what it was that caused the concentration of German fire in that one particular area. Only two objectives of major military value--important textile factories and important banking houses--lay within the field of concentrated bombing. Nazi bombers could have centered on any number of other points not far distant which had a far more direct bearing on the war. But they didn't. The conclusion I've been forced to reach is that the Nazis majored on the region about St. Paul's because it was intended as a terror raid--and that particular area was deemed best suited for that purpose. Narrow, tortuous streets made it extremely difficult, indeed almost impossible, to deal with bomb-produced fires. Many of them would be inaccessible to major fire-fighting equipment even if they weren't filled with rubble. The destruction in Old London was doubtless as great as the evil Nazi genius which planned it expected it to be. The vast acres of brick foundations suggest this. But the effect on the London population was something quite different from what was expected. Londoners suffered and died but they never cried "Unkel." By this ordeal of fire, they stand refortified today in their confidence that "there'll always be an England." In its bleak surroundings, the mighty St. Paul cathedral is silhouetted against the London sky from which ever direction you ascend its hill-top position. Only one bomb penetrated its massive roof, leaving a gaping hole in the north wing, still unrepaired. The amazing program of rubble-removal evident throughout the city of London reaches its highest pinnacle in the Old London area to which I have repaired. Where the broken stone and bricks have been taken, I can't guess. I only know that all walls have been razed to the foundations and that all litter has been removed from the exposed basements. In many of them a lovely purple wildflower was springing up crevices in the cement, symbolic perhaps of the London which one day will arise from these ruins. Another area of London which was bombed almost as heavily as the St. Paul's region was the east side dock area. I expect some day soon to spend a day out there and I should be able to make some interesting comparisons. On my way through the concentration of government buildings about Whitehall street the other day, I engaged a house of parliament guard in conversation. Though that building would have made perhaps the choicest target in its area, sprawling and set along the Thames, it was hit only once by a sizable bomb. "The Huns," he observed, "are notoriously poor shots. They went just about as wide of the mark with their heavy bombs as they have been this summer with their doodle bugs. Master race, me eye!" With that I walked down the street and had a look at 10 Downing street. Winston Churchill was in Italy--although in candor I think I should tell you that isn't the only reason I didn't see him. -- 30 --
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slug-'40 Air Blitz-4 Passed for Publication Aug 1944 by W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor Letter No. 7 London (Air Mail)--As I moved from one portico to another at St. Paul's cathedral in Old London the other day and looked out upon the block upon block of business buildings which had been leveled by the Nazi blitz of 1940, I kept wondering what it was that caused the concentration of German fire in that one particular area. Only two objectives of major military value--important textile factories and important banking houses--lay within the field of concentrated bombing. Nazi bombers could have centered on any number of other points not far distant which had a far more direct bearing on the war. But they didn't. The conclusion I've been forced to reach is that the Nazis majored on the region about St. Paul's because it was intended as a terror raid--and that particular area was deemed best suited for that purpose. Narrow, tortuous streets made it extremely difficult, indeed almost impossible, to deal with bomb-produced fires. Many of them would be inaccessible to major fire-fighting equipment even if they weren't filled with rubble. The destruction in Old London was doubtless as great as the evil Nazi genius which planned it expected it to be. The vast acres of brick foundations suggest this. But the effect on the London population was something quite different from what was expected. Londoners suffered and died but they never cried "Unkel." By this ordeal of fire, they stand refortified today in their confidence that "there'll always be an England." In its bleak surroundings, the mighty St. Paul cathedral is silhouetted against the London sky from which ever direction you ascend its hill-top position. Only one bomb penetrated its massive roof, leaving a gaping hole in the north wing, still unrepaired. The amazing program of rubble-removal evident throughout the city of London reaches its highest pinnacle in the Old London area to which I have repaired. Where the broken stone and bricks have been taken, I can't guess. I only know that all walls have been razed to the foundations and that all litter has been removed from the exposed basements. In many of them a lovely purple wildflower was springing up crevices in the cement, symbolic perhaps of the London which one day will arise from these ruins. Another area of London which was bombed almost as heavily as the St. Paul's region was the east side dock area. I expect some day soon to spend a day out there and I should be able to make some interesting comparisons. On my way through the concentration of government buildings about Whitehall street the other day, I engaged a house of parliament guard in conversation. Though that building would have made perhaps the choicest target in its area, sprawling and set along the Thames, it was hit only once by a sizable bomb. "The Huns," he observed, "are notoriously poor shots. They went just about as wide of the mark with their heavy bombs as they have been this summer with their doodle bugs. Master race, me eye!" With that I walked down the street and had a look at 10 Downing street. Winston Churchill was in Italy--although in candor I think I should tell you that isn't the only reason I didn't see him. -- 30 --
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