THE ZEPPELIN RAID

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3114, 19 June 1917, Page 5

THE ZEPPELIN RAID

FURTHER DETAIL howthealrshipwas j BROUGHT DOWN The High Commissioner reports:— London, June 17, 5.10 p.m. The Zeppelin raid was carried out by tivo. airships. One crossed the Kentish coast, dropping six bombs on. a coast town, killing two and injuring sixteen persons. The second attacked an East. Anglian town about 2.30 a.m. It was heavily shelled by anti-aircraft defences and driven off, and probably damaged by the gunfire. Shortly after the raider was engaged and brought down in flames by a pilot of the Hoyal .Flying Corps, an<l destroyed. There were no casualties or damage in East Anglia. ■ ZEPPELIN CREW. PERISHES. ' BODIES FEAE.FOLLY MANGLED. (Sec. June 18, 11.10 p.m.) London, June IS. The Zeppelin's crew perished. The mangled bodies of six, who jumped, from the wreck, were scattered in adjacent fields. It is believed that eight or ten. remain in the wreckage. An eye-witness watched,the: ;Zeppel.in for forty minutes. She. had; apparently been winged by the guns. -Thiee aeroplajies then approaohed her, the laet of them being the fastest. It seemed tiat it intended to ram tho airship, but instead the airman climbed over, peppering tho wholo length with eplendid daring and clean work. The airship, on firo , from end to end, drifted slowly to earth. —United Service. ... DESTRUCTION OF AIR PIRATE CHEERED BY THOUSANDS London, Juno 17. Eeporte from an east coast town, state that, following a thunderstorm, the was still and clear. Thousands of people were aroused from 6leep by a terrible bombardment. Searchlights picked up the raider, which had penetrated a few miles inland. Aircraft and guns Rave it ji hot reception, and the airship was soon in flames, and descended some distance away, amid tremendous cheering. The first explosion occurred in tho town on tho south-east coast, about 2 o'clock in the morning, when aerial torpedoes and explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped. A fire which resulted was quickly extinguished. A torpedo damaged some old cottages and private residences. ,'■ . The streets in one south-east coast town are strewn with broken glass. Aorial torpedoes were the principal missiles used. Some residences were damaged, but the occupants had a miraculous escape.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. THE AIR ASSASSINS EXPERT VIEWS ON DEFENSIVE London, June 17. At the inquest on the victims of the recent aeroplane raid, the evidence disclosed that the Germans are ueinjj a. new type ef bomb filled with shrapnel, which is less destructive to property, but deadly to life. A girl was killed fifty yards away by fragments of shrapnel w%ich.. had passed through two intervening houses. Aviation experts are unanimous that there is no bomb-dropping device in existence capable ofwlropping bombs 12,000 feet, or anything like that distance, with, precision. Therefore, the sole object of the raids on London is to .frijjhten thepeople. It would be only playing the enemy's game to divert aeroplanes from, the West .front, but the public is justified in demanding that sufficient machines l)e retained in England tomcet the raiders on equal terms. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. DEMAND FOR RUTHLESS REPRISALS INDIGNATION MEETING IN LONDON. (Rec. June 18, 6.40 p.m.) London, Juno 18. At a crowded meeting, held in tho London Opera House, tho Lord Mayor, presiding, it was resolved that systematic and ruthless roprisals were the only means of bringing home to the Gorman people the inhumanity and craelty of the dastardly and criminal air raids. They called on the Government to initiate immediately a policy of ceaseless air attack on German cities.—Ans.-N.Z. Cable Assn.