THE ZEPPELIN RAID

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 4157, 7 February 1916, Page 5

THE ZEPPELIN RAID

NO GREAT DAMAGE DONE.

BRITISH PEOPLE DEMAND , REPRISALS.

SCHEMES FOR AERIAL OFFENSIVE REVIVED.

AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION.

..(Received Feb. 6, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON. Feb. 6. The War Office reports that serious damage wa s don 0 in Monday’s raid to three breweries, three railway sheds, one engine shed, one tube factory, and one blacksmith's shop. Minor damage was done to a munition factory and several industrial works, and 15 work-ing-class houses were demolished. The latest casualty list shows 26 men, 28 women and seven children killed, and 48 men, 46 women and. seven children injured. The Government does not intend in future to issue details, but does so on this occasion to show how unfounded are the German claims that the economic life of Britain or her military preparations can be appreciably affected by promiscuous bomb-dropping. Mr Cowen, proprietor of the “Newcastle Chronicle,” offers £IOOO to the crow of the first aircraft which brings down a Zeppelin in Great -Britain or in territorial waters. Lord Rosebery, in a letter to “The Times,” advocates reprisals for the Zeppelin raids. We have too long displayed a passive and excessive patience, and must bring directly to the hearts and homes of the Germans the deeds which they acclaim. The blood of sufferers will rest on their Government and not on ours. Lord Rosebery’s letter advocating air reprisals is widely quoted. The “Pall Mall Gazette” declares that it will be endorsed by the overwhelming mind of file country. The “Westminster Gazette” hopes that reprisals will he directed against military objects only, and avoid dissipating our activity. The raid lias revived s'ehemes of a great aerial offensive. The “Daily Mail” argues that we have lost mobility and that only the air offers freedom of movement. We should have a tremendous fleet of aircraft, unceasingly attacking communications. Mr Billing outlines a scheme to provide 25 pilots daily, but training is impossible in England owing to atmospheric difficulties and a suitable aerodrome, which could be easily procurable in the South of France. Some experts ask is it not time that Britain reconsidered her decision regarding the utility of airships. A Zeppelin on Friday night sank the former German steamer Franz Fischer in the North Sea. She tvas coal laden and anchored. A high explosive bomb was dropped amidships. The vessel sank in two minutes, dragging down her crew, of whom 13 out of 16 were drowned. The survivors swam for an hour before being picked up by a Belgian steamer.

FATE OF TH€ Ll 9.

LOSS ADMITTED BY THE GERMANS.

NO SIGN OF WRECKAGE FOUND.

THE TRAWLER’S DILEMMA

(Received Feb. 6, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 6

The German Admiralty admits the loss of Ll 9, which was on a reconnoitring cruise. A destroyer visited the spot the King Stephen indicated and made a thorough search, but found no wreckage or floating bodies. It is believed that this is because the Germans were lashed to the wreckage. Probably the Zeppelin foundered on Wednesday night. Mr Denny, the King Stephen's mate, states that they had no chance of saving the Zeppelin. It was impossible for the trawler to tow her owing to the dead weight as the vessel would not stand the. strain. The wind was freshening considerably when the trawler left. All the Germans upon the airship had life lines, the ends being attached to the hatchway. When the skipper of the.trawler intimated that it was impossible to take such a large number aboard, there were angry cries and as the trawler was leaving the Germans shouted: “Gott Strafe England!” The trawler steamed ten miles and, on seeing the flash of a signalling lamp, found a sailor lashed to the high wreckage operating a signal. There was about a hundred feet or the Zeppelin afloat, and the huge bulk of the inflated gas bag towered above the trawler’s mast. The Britishers counted 22 Germans. The commander of the Zeppelin offered to give plenty of money, but the trawler feared to send a boat, thinking the Huns would, overpower the boatmen and hold them as hostages and enforce any terms treachery might suggest. • “If we had allowed them on the King Stephen,” he proceeded, “the Germans would have been at-Wil-lielmsliaven by now. We were loath to leave them but it was not a question of money, but common senseSoon after we left, the sea got up and probably the gasbag, hampered by the heavy machinery, foundered. The newspapers point out that there were nine men on the trawler without weapons and there were 20 or 30 o the Zeppelin men, fully armed, they would doubtless have seized the trawler directly they got aboard and navigated her to a Dutch port There is a storm of indignation in Germany over the King Stephen s action,, the people comparing her with the Baralong. , Although the Appam lias been declared a prize, nothing further has been decided as to her fate and whether she shall be allowed to take iefuge or be ordered to quit. A German wireless message says it is believed that the Zeppelin, attacks on Liverpool accomplished their object -that of destroying the gram elevators The raid was not a reprisal for the Baralong incident' only the com- • mencement of an air compaign whose object is the destruction of anything of military importance or foodl value to long as England continues her policy of starving Germans.