400 German Warplanes Firebomb London

[Globalization41]

London, Special Cable to The New York
Times, Thursday, April 17, 1941: [Late
Wednesday night, U.S. time.] London was
battered for eight hours last night and early
today by German bombers who unloaded
explosive and fire bombs over all parts of the
capital in what is believed to be the longest
concentrated attack since the war began.
[Hitler had ordered a terror raid to avenge an
April 9th raid on Berlin by British bombers.]
... The merciless parade of raiders began soon
after the dinner hour and continued for eight
hours with the never-ending, uneven drone of
German planes always to be heard. A short
breathing spell here meant that other people
were being blasted there. Then once again
would come the breath-taking whistle of bombs
and a roar while the building rocked and glass
crashed. ... When the steady note of "All
clear" sounded it seemed unbelievable.
Everywhere was crushed glass, doors oftener
than not blown in, and everything covered in
the black soot that forms a kind of war patina
for London. Even the air itself was dusty. ...
This was the case where bombs came near but
did not strike. No one knows or dares to guess
yet what has happened throughout London
where the incendiaries landed and heavy
explosives pulverized brick and wood in
homes, public buildings, offices, and industrial
plants. ... Suffice to say now that the capital
has undergone a long punishment which for
intensity on so great a scale surpasses anything
yet endured. The fire raid on the eve of the
new year was more spectacular, the destruction
of the docks last September more violent, but
the whole of London has experienced no such
plastering as this night's. ... Flames rose
everywhere, casting a sunset glow against the
blackout. They were no sooner smothered by
fire fighters than other forked tongues could be
seen licking up to frame London's slender
church spires, the Houses of Parliament, and
other historic land marks which though
probably untouched did appear fantastic in this
setting. ... Smoke lay across the capital as a
thin veil only visible when flares floated down
or flames shot up. The fires were brought
quickly under control, but the smoke rolled on,
filling the great city with a pungent smell. ...
... The New York Times, Late Wednesday,
April 16, 1941: Casualties in London were
heavy and damage considerable, said an Air
Ministry communique quoted by the Associated
Press. It was estimated that 400 planes took
part in the attack. ... ... Budapest, Hungary,
By Telephone to The New York Times, Wed.,
April 16: Max London, a Jewish bookseller in
Bucharest [Rumania], was murdered in his
home on Monday, it was learned here today.
The two murderers [a waiter and bookbinder
and members of the Iron Guard, a radical
right-wing group] were arrested the next day.
... Both were hanged last night. [Two others
were awaiting hanging for "hiding pistols."]

Washington, Special to The New York Times,
Wed., April 16: President Roosevelt today
condemned Hungary for attacking Yugoslavia
and put into effect provisions of the Neutrality
Act with regard to Hungary by declaring in his
proclamation, [since] "Hungary having without
justification attacked Yugoslavia, a state of war
exists between Hungary and Yugoslavia."
With relations between Hungary and the U.S.
being friendly only a few days before, the
President's condemnation served to emphasize
the speed with which the situation in the
Balkans has been transformed.

London, The New York Times, United Press,
Wednesday, April 16, 1941: Foreign Secretary
Anthony Eden saw Soviet Ambassador Ivan
Maisky, this afternoon, and was reported to
have expressed the desire of the British
Government for an improvement in British-
Soviet relations. ... [The British had
knowledge, mainly through radio intercepts of
German troop movements, indicating Hitler
was planning an invasion of Russia.] ...
Considerable importance was attached to the
conversation, the first between the two since
the momentous Russo-Japanese agreements of
last Sunday. ... It was believed that a
complete exchange of views took place and that
Mr. Maisky listed several conditions for an
improvement in relations, including a
clarification of Britain's attitude toward
incorporation of the former Baltic States --
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia -- into the
Soviet Union, one of the questions that must be
settled before any discussions of broader
questions could arise. ... [The Red Army
opportunistically occupied the Baltic states in
the summer of 1940 while the Germans were
blitzing France. At this time, Stalin's thought-
control police (the N.K.V.D.) were busy
liquidating or deporting to Siberian gulags
(slave/death camps) "dangerous" upper and
middle class elites.] ... Mr. Eden is said to
have been planning a move to restore Russo-
British friendship for some time. His move
came at a time when an increasingly grave
German threat toward the Dardanelles [an
easily blockaded, narrow waterway controlled
by Turkey, connecting the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean Sea -- close to Greece and with
strategic value to the Soviet Union] was
believed causing concern in Moscow. Some
observers thought the German moves toward a
vital sphere of Soviet influence might make
Russia more amenable to British overtures.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]

[Globalization41]

London, Special Cable to The New York
Times, By James MacDonald, Monday, August
18, 1941: [Late Sunday, U.S. time] The Royal
Air Force sent large numbers of its big
bombers through bad weather Saturday night to
attack Cologne, Duesseldorf, and Duisburg and
the docks at Rotterdam and Ostend. ...
Sunday, while Royal Air Force fighters drove
through a gale on continued offensive sweeps
over Northern France, other bombers struck at
enemy shipping off Le Touquet. ... The Air
Ministry reported on the loss of 16 British
planes in these night and day attacks, made by
"considerable forces." Eight Nazi planes were
reported destroyed. ... A German tanker was
torpedoed by a British plane in the foray off Le
Touquet. ... German guns mounted on the
French coast opened fire just before midnight
last night, aiming shells across the Channel. It
was believed the Nazis were trying to hit a
British convoy passing through the Strait of
Dover. Several two-gun salvos fell into the
sea, shaking buildings along the English coast
as they burst. The gun flashes were seen by
observers at Dover and appeared to be
concentrated at Cap Gris Nez. ... During
Saturday night over the Rhineland and Ruhr,
the three main industrial centers [Cologne,
Duesseldorf, and Duisburg] were "heavily
bombed" and many large fires started, the Air
Ministry said, ... Great loads of bombs fell on
all three cities and factories were left burning.
The blazes made brilliant targets for successive
waves of British planes. The R.A.F. crews
who went to Duisburg reported upon return
that they saw fires a quarter of a mile long.
They said the Germans put up fierce opposition
with searchlights, anti-aircraft fire, and night
fighters. ... The rear gunner of a British
bomber said he saw fires at Duisburg glowing
in the distance when his plane was returning
homeward across the Netherlands. ... A
Spitfire squadron flying inland between Cap
Gris Nez and Boulogne Sunday ran into a unit
of 15 Messerschmitt fighters, knocking off
three of the Nazis. The Spitfires on their way
back attacked a German anti-aircraft ship that
was escorting a convoy. ... At several
airfields in England, before R.A.F. raiding
crews left and upon their return they met Sir
Archibald Sinclair, Secretary of State for Air,
who was accompanied on an inspection tour by
Sir Milnar Seely, Under-Secretary for Air. ...
He told one group that the Bomber Command
was going to be "a main instrument of
victory." ... "Deadly thrusts at the military
power of Germany are being made by Bomber
Command, and in making these thrusts, you
fellows in the four-engine bombers have a big
part to play." ... "If we go on hammering the
Germans in the West," he said, "the time will
undoubtedly come when, sooner or later, the
German people will insist that the High
Command should bring back more aircraft
from the Eastern front to protect them and
counter-attack us in Britain. That will relieve
the weight of the attack upon the hard-pressed
Russians." ... Comparatively little activity on
the part of Nazi planes over Britain was
reported Sunday. One German plane dropped
bombs along the southeast coast of Scotland
and then machine-gunned a town, causing some
casualties. Other Nazi raiding planes machine-
gunned a village on the southwest coast of
Scotland, killing one person and injuring
others. ... Two German prisoners, both flying
officers, who escaped from internment camp
in the Lake district Saturday night, were
recaptured Sunday, 14 hours after they got
away, by home guardsmen and police.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]