THE ZEPPELIN RAIDS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17283, 26 September 1916, Page 10

THE ZEPPELIN RAIDS.

LONDON'S "MOST SERIOUS" ' ATTACK.

MORE GERMAfr FANTASIES,

[FjRO'M Ot7R C6»SESPONDENT.]

LONDON, August 14

"What the eye docs Hot seo the heart does not grieve about," so the latest German version of the '' terrible havoc" done in and around London Hull, and other somewhat important centres by their Zeppelins on the nights of July 28-August 3, leaves the Londoner quite cold. And there is nothing in the .local papers of the other places raided (according to Berlin) to show that the residents are conscious of the fact that they are living among smoking ruins. Possibly vfo have been mesmerised by ovfr tricky Coalition Government and made to see things lis they are not. Or, it may be, that among the oft-mentioned " tremendous reserve forces of the Empire"- we have a genius equal in resource to the miraclawvorker of Anstey's fantasy " The Brass Bottle,' and who can rebuild Zeppelin ruined buildings and bridges, whilo we sleep. Whatever the cause we aro sublimely unconscious in London of the f a °t that Zeppelins have been within miles of even the outskirts of the metropolis for many months, nor can our eyes find any trace df" the damage Berlin claims to hare inflicted upon cur city, though wo may walk our feet sore, or spend our days exploring the metropolis per motor 'bus. Here, however, are the " facts" of the raids as set forth by the German Government ana distributed per wireless from Berlin:— "Contrary to the assertions of the British Government, the general conviction reigns in London that the attack on Aflgust 1 was the most serious which London has ever - been through up to the present. Undeniable reports regarding the airship attack of July 28-29, July 31, and August 1, and August 2-3 confirm that very heavy damage was caused. A hall, which was under construction, with a remount depot, was completely destroyed. Most of the horses perished. At the mouth of the Hnmber a lighthouse .was destroyed. A small cruiser with three funnels and one mast was badly damaged. Below Grimsby two munition sheds were completely destroyed. Ships anchored between Grimsby- and Cleethorpes- Harbour establishments, and "in the neighbourhood of Cleethorpes were seriously damaged. The damage caused in Hull amounts to millions. Several arms and munition works were destroyed, as well as other establishments of military importance. A panic broke out amongst the population when they realised that the antiaircraft guns could do nothing against the airships. The harbour of Immingham has been closed on account of the extensive damage caused in the docks and the coal depots.

WOOLWICH " SERIOUSLY DAMAGED."

"In the region of Norwich there were several cases of destruction on the railways. To tlfe .soum of Cambridge a large), factory was set on lire. Near" Yarmouth a battery of searchlights and anti-aircraft guns was de-, stroyed. In Harwich an airship shed in course of construction was brought down In Dover the docks .were bombarded for half an hour and fires were observed there. Woolwich and the surrounding districts • were seriously damaged, and several munition suburb of London a cotton mill used for the manufacture of shell cases was completely destroyed. .Over a thousand men and women have bean put out of employment. Several largo bridges acroi.the 'Thames, mcluduig the tootbridges of the Tower Bridge, were damaged. In the docks several warehouses and landing piers were destroyed. Ships-.anchored there were 'partly soriously damaged. In one. dock, numerous ships, including a largo English steamer, which was supposeu to take provisions. to France to the tiocps, was .destroyed by fire. Many pfraons, were wounded, some seriously, .by tho auti-airoraft fire. In the Thames, a torpedo-boat was hit by our bombs and- sank. In Oxted, near London, two munition factories wem destroyed. The surroundings of the factories were still on fire the. next day." That's all—for. the present. Later no doubt the Germans will improve upon the talc. It will be noticed that the Huns onlv claim material destruction for their bombs and credit the injuries to human beings to our airaircraft guns. By and.by, no doubt, they will put forward the suggestion that our losses in human lifo during aircraft raids are the result of .our own firing, CAPTURED HUNS' NOTIONS.

To Englishmen these Berlin versions of the damage done by Zeppelins appeal as grotesque fantasies, but wo have evidence that Germans as a whole do believe these yarns. Even German officers of hish.ranK apparently swallow without difficulty., any sort of tale the Government likes to tell. A recently captured Hun staff-officer was quite r flabbergasted when he * was told that he was to be interned in England. He honestly believed that the Channel passage had been rendered well-nigh impossible' bv his country's submarines, and-wanted"to know-whether the ship in which he was to sail across would show any distinguishing marks, by which the commanders of German undorwateV craft would know, she had German prisoners on board;! He was, of course, assured that no such marks were carried, and was informed that the particular boat on which ho was about to sail for England had made the trip across the Channel twice or three times a week for the past two years without mishap; also, that as far as British ships on Government business were concerned the percentage of loss due to submarine activities in the Channel was infinitesimal. The of course, would not believe this, neither would he consenc to go below during the trip across, which was an eye opener for him, for £ho Channel was thronged with shipping of all nations bar German and Austrian. On landing at Dover the Huu officer was rather readier to accept the proposition that the Jutland battle had not resulted in' the ' trident being torn from British hands. But he still clung to the notion that the Zeppelins had wrought havoc in our land, and especially in London, and he accepted the fact that he was driven from Victoria to his internment quarters in far west London in a closed vehicle as evidence that his escort was desirous of concealing the extent of the damage from him. Ho believes to-day that Buckingham Palace is a deserted ruin, that many of the big buildings in the West End and the city are Represented by a tangled confusion of brick, stone and ironwork, that most of the Thames bridges are more or less wrecked; in fine, his mental picture of the condition of the heart of London to-day seems to be that of a city that has undergone a bombardment akin to that inflicted on some of the fair cities of Flanders. A SUGGESTION.

It really would not be a bad idea to take this German officer for a week's tour round the metropolis, let him see with his own eyes what the Zeppelins have not done, and return him to. Berlin with John Bull's". compliments. A similar tour might be given to a 'selected number of. the German prisoners wo ».re exchanging; or repatriating; because

they arc over military ago, or are wasto material from nn army point of view.' London has really suffered so little from the attacks of Zeppelins that she can well afford to show her scars even to the enemy, for they are those of mere flesh wounds, ana their'position does riot in tho least correspond with the stories of mortal hurts inflicted upon her according to the tales officially spread in the Central Empires. Possibly if the Germans knew how they had been " gulled" by their Government about the achievements of their "dear Zeppelins" (so several German papers are in the habit of terming these airships), they might put another ancl very different construction on tho "dear." ENGLAND ON FIRE. The German version of the Zeppelins' successes is "a very fine effort in imagination, but I havo just come upon a translation of a passage from a Leipsig paper which makes' the Berlin tale almost colourless by contrast. . Listen to this extract from a glowing pen picture of fear and devastation in England:— . "On a few nights in succession the English were left in peace by Zeppelin's steel-grey airships; very few of them, we should think, enjoyed the blessing of care-free slumbers. The torturing fear of fresh raids must have followed therh in their dreams. " Amid shuddering terrors, they must have awakened many and many a night when their heated, imagination .played them its grim tricks. We gladly grant the" English people those mental torments, but we rejoice even more when those nightmares are converted into gruesome reality. "This was the case on the occasion of the raid of August 9, when thirtyfour attacks were made on the land of our chief enemy, when explosive bombs of the heaviest calibre and incendiary bombs in vast numbers rained down on coast towns spread over an area of more than 200 miles. . " This is wondrous music for German ears. The entire coast, from the mouth of the Tyne to the Wash, was coloured blood red with the glow from terrific fires."