THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BABY-KILLERS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2571, 20 September 1915, Page 5

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BABY-KILLERS

AIR RAIDS OF "MILITARY VALUE " WANTON BOMB-DROPPING EXPOSED'' By Telegraph—press Assoolation-OopyrijfM ■ (Reo. September 19, 2.30 p.m.) London, September 17. The Press Bureau states that at the request of Sir_ John Simon (AttorneyGeneral), an impartial observer described the effects of the last Zeppelin raid in the London district. Sir John Simon adds that the number of casualties from the air raids, in all cases, is correctly _ stated. The description carefully avoids details regarding the route, and the placos bombed. Tho description states:

"The experience of last week, combined with the German official reports thereupon, demonstrates the fact that tho commanders of f/bcso aircraft are often grossly in error as to their movements, and have-no means whatever of estimating tho effect of tlieir promiscuous bomi)aT(|ment. Everywhere, it is only private property that has suffered, and, in most cases, the dwellings were of the. small-residential kind. Almost till tlib unfortunates who were killed were noncombatant.';, hitherto exempt from attack in accordance with tho honourable practice of civilised' warfare is, women, children, small Shopkeepers, and working men. "The futility of _ such raids can be imagined when it is remembered that the London district is. seven hundred miles 'square. _ 'Llio enemy professed to have accomplished 'an important military purpose' by hastilj- dropping his explosives and incendiary material at random over this enormous surface. In l)oint of fact, no public institution was hit. True, two hospitals narrowly escaped, but it is fair to 'say that the p.rmy which lias done its best to destroy the oatliedrals of Belgium and France lias only succeeded in hitting one church.

"From Berlin's standpoint, the moral effect of this must be a complete failure. If _ Count Zeppelin accompanied his raiders, as is reported, he will be disappointed to learn that onlv a minority of tho vast population of London were aware of tho presence of his airship. The feolings of those iyho heard tho gunfire and-saw tho Zeppelin was that of interest and curiosity, rather than of feat. Tho fact is that the London •suburbs faced calmly the- murderous efforts of those unmitigated, callous, and purposoless brutal "raids, and the tragedies involved. "A Few Pictures." "Hero are a few pictures of the effects of the London raid: Outside a publichouso, a man and woman were talking. The woman departed to buy the supper. A bomb fell at the man's feet, killing him outright, arid also blew in the hotel front, reducing the stock to a mass of broken- glass, twisted an iron bedstead, and injured a ' sleeping woman. How, conceivably, could this contribute to the progress of the war? "A bomb dropped on a block of workmen's dwellings, which, nightly, are crowded with children. On the topmost flat, four children were. sleeping. Two; surreptitiously rose -up to make tea in an adjoining room,'and escaped, miraculously. The sleeping tihfldren were killed instantly. That was what occurred when the captain of the Zeppelin professed to think that ho was visiting the docks, and vitally damaging tho port..

"A'bomb was dropped on a stable; it set fire to, a motor-car. Tho stableman and his .wife rescued eleven horses, a dog, and a cage-bird. The only casualty was a bantam cock. The utility of this attack is ridiculous.

"Elsewhere, a tragic bomb dropped squarely oil a blook of flats. Two girls who wore sleeping' vanished with the room, and their bodies were found, two days later, under the debris. Their parents were sleeping, and when the •partition wall was blown out they searched for their remaining three children. An eight-year-old boy ran for safety to a staircase, which had been demolished, and fell into tho hole where his sisters were buried under the ruins. Two out of three children belonging to another family on the first floor were missing. Their bodies were recovered.' The worst effect of the explosion was on the ground floor, where wero a widow, her daughter, and a, lodger. Part'of the latter's body was found 150 yards distant.

A bomb which dropped in a street Hew in a shop front, and spent- its main forco upon a passing motor-bus. There were twenty people on board; nine were killed and eleven injured. "Tlicso incidents account for nearly Hialf the deaths, and suffice to. show the real measure and nature of the raiders' success. The net results of tho week's raids on lifo and limb in the London district wero 38 killed or died of wounds, and 124 injured. Two policemen and one Army Service man were among the casualties: otherwise nobody in uniform suffered."