NIGHT RAID
33
great masses of citizens in their bomb shelters. Either they were drowned
by the water or they were roasted alive by the fires set by incendiary
bombs. The Germans estimated that only 300 Rotterdammers had been
killed. The Dutch knew that more than 25,000 were killed. For seven days
they kept finding an average of 1800 bodies a day, after the streets had
been cleared of dead.... The stink of embers, stagnant water and dead flesh
hung over the city for a month.'' No military purpose was served by the
destruction, which took place after the Dutch army had surrendered. It
was strictly a demonstration of craftsmanship, planned and executed to
impress the citizens of Paris ... and London.
NIGHT RAID
The sleepers humped down on the benches,
The daft boy was playing rummy with anyone he could get,
And the dancing girl said, ·"What I say is,
If
there's a bomb made for YOU,
You're going to get it."
Someone muttered, "The bees are coming again."
Someone whispered beside me in the darkness,
"They're coming up from the east."
Way off the guns muttered distantly.
This was in the small hours, at the ebb.
And the dancing girl clicked her teeth like castanets
And said, "I don't mind life, believe me.
I like it.
If
there's any more to come,
I can take it and be glad of it."
She was shivering and laughing and throwing her head back.
On the pavement men looked up thoughtfully,
Making plausible conjectures. The night sky
Throbbed under the cool bandage of the searchlights.
DESMOND HAWKINS
