RECENT AIR RAIDS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 16036, 22 January 1918, Page 3

RECENT AIR RAIDS.

HOW GOTHAS FAILED TO GET PAST LONDON’S GUNS.

How far London’s guns have succeeded and Gothas have failed is shown «by the following table of one week’s raids. Out of a population of 7,000,000 people only 52 have been, killed and 257 injured (the figures including all areas visited), while four Gothas are reported to have been brought down. September 24.—Twenty raiders; not more than two got through; Germans admit one lost; 15 killed, 70 injured. September 25.—0n1y, two out of ten or more got through; seven killed, 25 injured. September 26.—N0 raid. Cloudy and rain. ‘ September 27.—N0 raid; 15 Gothas lined up ready to start near Ghent, having been bombed by R.N.A.S. the ] same afternoon. September 28,-—Twenty machines came, but none got through; two shot down, one at sea, the other in Thames Estuary. September 29.—Bombs dropped in north-eastern and south-eastern districts, also in Kent and Essex. Not more than three out of twenty got through; 11 killed, 82 injured. September SO.—Ten machines penetrated outer defences, but only four reached London; bombs dropped in Kent and Essex, and also in London; nine killed. 42 injured. One raider shot down off Dover. October I.—London attacked by four groups; a few passed over, but others driven off. Bombs dropped in southwestern districts; also in Kent; 10 killed, 38 injured. REASSURING FIGURES. LORD MONTAGU ON THE HUN FAILURE. "Now that rather more than a week has elapsed since the night raids uponLondon commenced, it is possible,” writes Lord Montagu, “to estimate to some extent the risks which Londoners have to run. The facts are as follow: Population attacked, 7,500.000. Area attacked, 700 square miles. Number of raids, 5. Killed. 46. " Wounded, 231. In all five raids; Chance against being killed, 163,000 to 1. Chance against being wounded, 32,467 tel*

In any on© raid (highest figures Chance against being killed, 625,000

to 1. „ x Chance against being wounded, 87,000 to 1,"

To realise what these figures mean, I must quote some others: Traffic casualties in London streets.— First nine months of hilled. First nine months of 1917, 14,104 wounded. These casualties are below the normal which, before the w r ar, was about 500 a week. There is much less risk, therefore, from German bombs than from London traffic. ... We need not be alarmed during the coming winter, ,when weather of the usual' unsettled type will in a few weeks probably check if it does not altogether stop, the raiders. MIRACULOUS ESCAPES. LOUDER THE NOISE THE GREATER THE SAFETY. ' Never probably has the German, raider found the weather so favourable, and never has he encountered such a determined opposition from our defences. During several of the attacks one could actually see the definite line of the barrage. In the brilliant moonlight every puff of white smoke from the bursting shells showed up plainly. It was impossible to count them, or even roughly to compute their number. As each puff of smoke hung for ten or even twenty minutes before it dispersed, there were some thousands in the air at one time. Every, now and again these puffs drifted across the face of the moon, and many people mistook them for enemv machines. It roust be remembered that there were 360 bullets in an 18-pounder shrapnel shell. Fired above the ground at the orthodox elevation, they cover an area of 10,000 square yards. In the air their effect is even greater, for, even when they lose their initial velocity, they fall with force enough to damage if not wreck an aeroplane, especially if they -hit a vital part, such as the petI rol tank or an important stay or strut. | If hundreds of these shells are bursting in the saipe direction, each sending out -a spray of bullets like water from the rose of a watering can, they form an almost impenetrable curtain. In several districts during the raid the whirr of the aeroplanes was heard, and. a tram conductor asserted that he saw the raiders’ machines. Notwithstanding the vigorous cannonade, London remained remarkably calm. The early warnings cleared the streets to a very large extent; consequently when the raids realetent; consequently when the raids really began there was almost an absence of confusion. People quietly sought the places that they thought were the safest. As soon as the “All Clear” sig. nal was given, people immediately hurried to their homes. A public-house in a working-class neighbourhood , was struck by a torpedo, and five persons lost their Jives. The missile struck the lower part of the building and hurst in the bar. There was a blinding flash, a terrible explosion, and two men and two women in the bar were killed instantly, and a man sheltering in the doorway lost his life. A woman who had sought refuge in a doorway 100 yards away was badly wounded. In one district five missiles fell within a short radius. No physical injury was caused, A street in north-east London was severely treated. There is | scarcely a pane of glass in a. radius of 2.50 yards from where two bombs dropped. The first fell and exploded at the rear of a factory above which are some model dwellings. A great portion of these are fortunately unoccupied, so that actual human injury was small. Four girls were sheltering in the main ! nassago when the explosion occurred. | The back door, which is a glass one. was i blown in. and a huge piece of zinc hurled through the house.’ One of the girls, ! who was carrying a small child, was I lifted bodily up three stairs, antVflnng towards the front door. She, like her sisters, was unhurt, although the concussion blew the front door down.