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Each, man sat quietly, waiting, alert for whatever was coming, their ears filled with the alternating irritating drone of the de-synchronised engines. The uneven note was supposed to make it harder for the sound locators but they knew they would be registering some kind of blip on a radar screen by now.
Richard Collier, The City That Wouldn't Die, London, Collins Publ., 1959, p. 81.
PLACE: London
TIME: May 10th - llth, 1941
CIRCUMSTANCE: The bombing of London
As the ground floor split open and the debris thundered to the basement, one terrible cry came up from the shelterers beneath.
Then silence, an aching empty silence broken only by small sounds; the restle of broken water-pipes, the slow trickle of plaster-dust, a faint whimpering as if a child had bad dreams.
Richard Collier, The City That Wouldn't Die, London, Collins Publ., 1959, p. 123.
PLACE: London
TIME: May 10th - 1lth, 1941
CIRCUMSTANCE: The bombing of London
In some districts it seemed as if the noise would never stop. In Theobalds Road, Leading Fireman Morrie Zwaig, an auxiliary, was petrified by the throb of planes ... the savage pummelling of the guns ... the steady droning of the pumps' engine..the nerve-tearing scream of bombs. And only a mile away, all might be silent... the quivering orange light...the dry crackle of the flames ... far away a fire-engine tolling like a passing bell. By the burning Temple Church, journalist Alexander Werth, was one man with time to listen and hear a vast ring of fire breathing rhythmically, like a living thing. He thought: for once Wagner was right.
Richard Collier, The City That Wouldn't Die, London, Collins Publ., 1959, p. 129.
PLACE: London
TIME: May 10th-1lth, 1941
CIRCUMSTANCE: The bombing of London
Bombs were still falling, rumbling and thundering between the blazing cliffs of houses; somewhere above a day-fighter buzzsawed, machine-gunning a parachute mine; it exploded, veining the air with yellow light. In this din it was hard for a man to make himself heard, let alone think.
Richard Collier, The City That Wouldn't Die, London, Collins Publ., 1959, p. 134.
PLACE: London
TIME: May 10th - 11th, 1941
CIRCUMSTANCE: The bombing of London
For others it was a night of harrowing sound ... the fevered jangling of burglar alarms set off by impact...the doomsday knell across the City of London as St. Swithin's Bell ricocheted down the tunnel of its steeple ... the terrified screeching of the gibbons in the Regent's Park Zoo... the clip-clop of hoof-beats down Piccadilly as a woman rode on a horse through the drifting smoke.
Richard Collier,The City That Wouldn't Die, London, Collins Publ., 1959, p. 149.
PLACE: London
TIME: May 10th - 11th, 1941
CIRCUMSTANCE: The bombing of London
The raid ended as it had begun -- with one of the longest siIences ever endured by man.
London, 5:52 a.m., Sunday, 11th May. The clarion call of the All Clear, like a liner nearing safe haven, ringing over the whole city.
Richard Collier, The City That Wouldn't Die, London, Collins Publ., 1959, p. 214.
PLACE: London
TIME: May 10th - 11th, 1941
CIRCUMSTANCE: The bombing of London
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