HUN RAIDERS' HUMAN TOLL.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 64, 15 March 1919, Page 11

HUN RAIDERS' HUMAN TOLL.

BRITAIN'S CASUALTIES. 1570 KILLED, 4041 INJURED. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON. January 14. When we consider that London, the principal objective of the German airraiders, consists of something between *ix and seven hundred square miles rhiefly covered with "bricks and mortar," and containing, on most days of the year, anything up to six millions of people, the achievements of the Huns in i the way of destruction of life and property per Zeppelin and Gotha must really be deemed miraculously small. We have not yet been favoured with an official estimate of the cost of making good the material damage done in the OM Country by German nor is it possible under existing conditions in the labour and material markets to fashion an e6timate worth the trouble of the amount Fritz's aerial strafings have really cost the country. It will, of course, be a matter of millions even if we take a pre-war view of constructional values, but the highest unofficial estimates I have seen of the damage done in vanons areas in and around the city of London, and at other places bombed, do not aggregate anything like the total one might reasonably have expected as 9 result of the 51 "Zep" raids, 57 aeroplane raide, and a -dozen bombardments from the sea with which Fritz favoured us between December 15, 1914, and June IS, 1918. And when we come to look at the total cost in human life of these exhibitions of frightfuln.-ss, we can only marvel that the bill is co small. It seems almost inconceivable when on remembers the density of London's population and of the eastern and southern coast towns which were the German objectives, that the Huns only contrived to kill 1413 people in their aerial visitations and 157 in their "tip-and run" raids on our coastal towns by cruisers, destroyers and submarines. The air aid victims were as follows: — Men 49Q Women 366 Children 252 Soldiers and sailors 296 It will be seen that of those killed in air raids upon Old Englind's "fortified towns' , and "places of military importance,"' as the Germans claimed their objectives to be, the fatalities among civilione were nbout five times as great as among the fighting men, whilst the raids by sea produced 143 civilian deaths and only 14 among sailors and soldiers. So much for the fatalities. As regards injuries, the official figures now published included, it must be remembered, people who weie injured in every degree. Some, no doubt, have died since these figures were compiled as a result of the wounds they received, but among the casualties are included many who received very minor injuries- The full total of the Hun aviators and 6ea raiders' victims, however, only amounted to 3400 civilians and 551 soldiers and sailors, the "grand aggregate" of the casualties they indicted being SGII. Thus the average tasualties per raid by sea and air were rather less than 47," and the fatalities Averaged only about 13 per raid. ZEP.S v. GOTHAS. As regards destruction of human life and damage to the human body, the aeroplane proved the more efficient weapon. The 51 airship raids caused 1913 casualties, 556 people being killed, whilst 57 leroplane visitations resulted in 2907 casualties, 857 of which were fatalities. The sea raiders made a better.showina,for their twelve raide resulted in 781 casualties, 157 being fatal. The raids mentioned were those ie which the enemy really reached the Old Country and dropped bombs on the land. He made dozens of attempts which were frustrated, especially during the aeroplane era. The first Zeppelin raid occurred-over isorfolk on January 19-20, 1915, and in this four pepole were killed and 16 injured, including one soldier and sailor, ror some time the - casualties in these raids were light, but in the firet raid on London on .May 31-June 1, 1915, seven were killed and 35 injured, and for a time the losses were comparatively heavy, though during the last period of the raids they were becoming email again. ° ABORTIVE "ZEPS." The raids extended over the period January 19, 1915, to April 13, 1918. On twelve occasions the Zeppelins failed to claim a single victim. In the raid on Lincolnshire, Essex and Suffolk on -March 31-April 1, 1916, 31 sailors and soldiers were killed and 55 injured. On October 1-2 of the same year, an extensive raid over Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Northampton.-hire, ' Hertfordshire and London resulted in one • woman being injured. In these raids the total civilian casualties were as follows: — Killed. Injured. Total. Men 217 57S SO4 Women .. 171 431 60" Children.. 110 218 32S Total .. 40S 1.236 1,734 The casualties to 6oldiers and sailors were 58 killed and 121 injured. On March 31, 1916, 31 were killed and 55 injured, this being the mos; disastrous raid in this respect. AEROPLANE RAIDS. The casualties in the aeroplane raids were comparatively small until the daylight raid on Kent and Folkestone on May 25. 1917, after which they were heavy, the first big daylight raid on London—on June 13, 1917 —resulting in 594 casualties, and proving to be the worst of all a? far as loss of life was concerned. The raids started on December 24, 1914, at Dover, when there were no casualties, and the last raid occurred en June 17, 1918, over Kent, with a like result. The first five aeroplane raids over this country claimed no victims, and 13 others took place without a single casualty being caused. On September 3-4. 1917, 131 sailors and soldiers were killed and 90 injured in a raid on Kent. In the previous June IS men of the forces were killed and 93 injured by bombs dropped on Kent and Folkestone. Out of the total casualties from aeroplane raids (2,907!, 619 civilians and 238 soldiers or sailors were killed, and 1.650 civilians and 400 soldiers or sailors injured. Among the civilians 282 men, 195 women, and 142 children were killed, and 741 men. 555 women and 324 children injured. SEA-RAIDERS - TOLL. Bombardments from the sea caused the death of 143 civilians, with injuries to 604 more, 14 soldiers or sailors being killed and 30 injured during these. Witn the exception , of the raid on Hartlepool, Scarborough, and Whitby, on December 16, 1914, the casualties were light, but this was a disastrous affair, which accounted for 729 of the total number of our losses. In this, among the civilians 49 men, 39 women tnd 39 children were

killed, and 167 men, 178 women, and 222 children injured. Only 10 soldiers or sailors were killed and 25 injured, an interesting commentary on the German oft-repeated assertion that these were fortified places. The raid on Yarmouth and Lowestoft on April 25, 1916, resulted in 1 man, 1 woman, and 1 child being killed, and 8 men. 6 women, and 3 children injured, and 1 soluier or sailor kiled and 2 injured. Four bombardments from the eea by war vessels failed to cause any bloodshed.