Reports on Britain Under the BombsNight after night, in the hot summer and early fall of 1940, a deep, steady voice came over the Atlantic Ocean from England to America, telling of England's battle for survival under the waves of German bombers. This strong and steady voice, an American voice with a slight accent of North Carolina, belonged to Edward R. Murrow, head of the European staff of the Columbia Broadcasting System. "This is London," said Murrow, while the bombs fell and flames spread on the streets of the city. ______ The heavy raids began in the middle of August, and Nazi bombs started to fall along England's Channel Coast. The German bombers cast dark shadows over the white cliffs of Dover, and England's Home Guard prepared to fight on the beaches, on the cliffs, and in the hills, until the last Englishman died or the invaders were driven off. Air Marshal Goering's bomber pilots were sure of their ultimate triumph over England. Hitler and Goering believed that when London became a burned city like Warsaw or Rotterdam, England would surrender. But the English were more fortunate than the Poles in Warsaw and the Dutch in Rotterdam. ______ The hardships of London really started in the first week of September, when Hitler was at last convinced that the English did not intend to give in. On September 7, 1940, nearly four hundred German bombers hammered the city with bombs in broad daylight. Goering boasted, " ______ " Fires burned, houses fell, gas pipes burst, and dark smoke rose from the streets. ______ Radar sirens wailed, ambulances rushed from one place of agony to another, and firefighters faced the flames hour after hour. It seemed impossible for any city to take so much punishment and continue to endure. ______ But the city endured. Trains brought commuters in from the suburbs. Buses bumped along the streets. The fires were brought under control. ______ Newspapers appeared and people bought them, hurrying to work and reading reports of the battle raging over London. And Edward R. Murrow went on the air, saying in his deep, steady voice, "This is London." He spoke as though nothing could ever keep him from saying those words. ______ He simply voiced the quiet truth of the city's existence. Murrow knew that Britain's fate depended upon the resolution of the people in the shops and streets, the men in the pubs, the housewives, those watching for fire on the roofs, the people who had a thousand difficult and painful things to do. Much depended upon the handful of pilots who rose day after day and night after night to meet the flocks of Nazi bombers. ______ And the people of London were also in the front lines, but they did not have the satisfaction of being able to fight back. They couldn't reach up and smash the enemy planes. ______ They had to put out endless fires. They had to stand firm and take whatever the enemy threw at them. In a broadcast on October 1, 1940, Murrow declared: " ______ " Murrow's projection of eventual victory for the ordinary people proved to be accurate. The Nazi powers were finally defeated by the Allied nations.