ZEPPELINS DESTROYED

Nelson Evening Mail, 25 May 1916, Page 2

ZEPPELINS DESTROYED

TAJLK WITH PRISONERS.

"WE COULD SEE NOTHING."

"With some colleagues of other neutral countries, I was kindly allowed to visit at Chatham the rescued crew of the first Zeppelin brought down by British guns within British territory, writes Mr John C. Van der Veer, London editor of the Amsterdam Telegraaf. 'We found altogether two officers and 15 men detained at Army* Headquarters. The total crew comprised 18 men. One was drowned when the airship fell into the sea. All the .prisoners got a severe shaking, from the effects of which they were just recovering. On was slightly wounded Qn his wrist, another on his foot. .All this was caused by their falling into the water. The officer in command, who has the rank of lieut.-commander, had a few scratches on his head, also caused by the fall. The men said that they left one of their ordinary crew . behind in Germany. The commanding officer, whose name is Breithajipt, seemed to have gained distinction, "for he was wearing the iron cross upon his breast. We that he also possessed the Order Pour le Merite, the highest military distinction in Germany, founded 'by Frederick the Great. Apparently he gained these distinctions for Zenpelin raids, because he told us that before the war lie commanded a German destroyer, and during the war he had become commander of a Zeppelin. We found all of the men between 25 and 35 years old. The commander himself is only 33. All the men looked strong and healthy, and they all belonged' to the navy. Most of the men were looking very cheerful, apparently glad that they escaped with their lives from what turned out to be a very dangerous undertaking. We were told by them that, on nearing the Briish coast, they were spotted at once, and before they could throw any bombs they were fired at and struck three times. The ship •broke in the middle, and fell fromi a j great height into the water. They were all submerged and rescued' by British patrol ships in about an hour's time.

The. name of the second officer, who lias the rank of ober lieutenant, is Kuhne. He told us that before the war he had been in England and' lie. spoke English very well. Asked what was his business when staying in England, he smiled and said, "That I cannot tell." We asked 1 ' the men if they could distinguish anything during a raid on dark nights. They were somewhat shy in answering, but declared they could see absolutely nothing—they could only distinguish land from water. One of them said, "We do not know what our officers may see through the glasses ;we could see nothing.'' We. asked them if it was not a sorry business to kill women and children. Some of the men were quite frank, and said, "We d& as, we are ordered." Most of the men declared that they had never before participated in a raid. Only one of them said, he had been before a couple of times. This man was a mechanician. He was never able to .observe j anything, but had quite enough to ao attending to his business" - 'Another man declared' that a. flight ir a Zeppelin was not at all a pleasant trip, flying high in pitch darkness, ite ver knowing what may happen. We saw the rations supplied to the men—exactly the same as the ration? of a British soldier—so it was not at al" surprising to us that they found thieir treatment very satisfactory. Some of them were without coats, and- barefooted. They pointed this out to us, and we were allowed' to tell them that proper clothing was on. its way, but we remarked: "*Yoti. were* ■ not expected here," upon which they laughed.