Abstract
ON December 29, after four months of vicious, though unsuccessful, attempts to destroy the spirit of London, the Nazis attempted to destroy her heart by fire from the air. Those of us who experienced the wanton assault need no further proof that it was a deliberate attempt to fire one of the most vulnerable points in the world, although no targets of military value were attacked. It may be that the attack was not necessarily one of desperation (as suggested in some quarters), but rather an integral part of the Nazi war effort to destroy anything symbolical of the democratic ideal and tradition. If so, then it has proved a dismal failure; London has withstood its ordeal by fire. It is true that some irreparable material damage has been done. Guildhall is a blackened shell; eight Wren churches have been wrecked; the Central Criminal Court has been damaged; the house in Gough Square, Fleet Street, where Dr. Johnson compiled his dictionary has been burnt out; Goldsmiths' College, which is incorporated in the University of London, was destroyed; and so on. The night was awesome—a clear demonstration of the senseless ferocity of aerial warfare as conceived by the Nazis.
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The Fire of London. Nature 147, 20 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/147020b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/147020b0