RAIDERS CAUGHT IN TRAP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16561, 9 June 1917, Page 7

RAIDERS CAUGHT IN TRAP.

RING OF FIRE FROM GUNS.

ONLY ONE BUILDING DAMAGED A. and N.Z. Cible. LONDON. June 7.

Latest accounts of the enemy air raid on Tuesday show that half the raiders liave not returned to Germany. Two machines were shot down in the Medway, two between Kent and Dunkirk, and two off Ostend, while four others were driven down off Ostend, two of them being destroyed.

Eye-witnesses state that the formation of the raiding planes over the Medway consisted of a line of bomb-throwers, with other aeroplanes on their flanks ready to engage the Britishers, who quickly ascended. The Germans, at first flying very high, came lower than in previous raids, but nut a British gun was fired until the attackers were above the town. Then the raiders suddenly found themselves caught in a great ring of fire; they seemed to be trapped. A British shell caught ono German machine and sliced off its propeller. The aeroplane dived, but the pilot recovered himself, looping the loop as he descended several times, to break the speed of his descent. A British patrol boat, which was the first to reach the scene, released the wounded Germans, but it was impossible to salve the wrecked aeroplane. A German officer succumbed yesterday.

Ton minutes after the first etr- , iv aeroplane was wrecked another German machine burst into flame, and pitched downward at a tremendous speed, falling in the town. The rest of the enemy aircraft managed to escape from the ring of British fire and fled, our machines chasing them.

The worst damage done in the town was to a clothing store. Two bombs exploded in a building, which collapsed. Fortunately a largo number of women workers had been removed when the raid was announced. The fire brigade was able to extinguish the fire. The missiles included many aerial torpedoes, warning of which was given by the buzzing whirr of the propellers as they fell.