ZEPPELIN RAID

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2714, 8 March 1916, Page 5

ZEPPELIN RAID

THE DEATH ROLL MANY CIVILIANS KILLED By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright London, March 6. Zeppelins visited several counties from Yorkshire to Kent. • Twelve persons were killed and thirtythree injured. Official: It is believed that three Zeppelins participated in the raid. After crossing the coast they took various courses. Their devious flights suggest that_ they, -were uncertain of their bearings. Thoy visited Yorkshire, Lincolnshire,. Rutland, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Essex, and Kent. They dropped about forty bombs. Threo mon, four women, and five children were killed, and thirty-three people injured. Two terracos of houses were completely destroyed, and one office, one public-house, a cafe, and several shops partially destroyed. A block of almshouses was badly damaged. A block of workmen's dwellings was demolished and a woman and 1 four children killed, and the husband seriously injured. A doctor's house in another locality was wrecked. The family escaped before the building was struck. _ A ninety-year-old pensioner was incinerated in bed. The bombs used were both incendiary nnd oxplosive. London, March 6, '4.30 p.m. The High Commissioner reports: The number of Zeppelins taking part in last night's raid is believed to bo three. The airships, apparently, were uncertain of their whereabouts. The area visited included Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Essex, and Kent. About forty bombs were dropped. Three men, four women, and five, children were killed, and thirty-three people injured. Two terraces of houses were practically destroyed. There were also some | buildings damaged. RESCUE WORK. BY LANTERN LIGHT. (Pec. March 7, 5.5 p.m.) London, March 6. The Zeppelins visited one county in a snowstorm. Some counties received warnings, and precautions were taken, but no alarm was evinced. Rescue work was carried out by lantern light, with tho snow falling. A bedridden woman was dug out of debris unscathed. Thero were sixteen victims, three fatal, in a fine residential quarter. One or more Znppolins remained in .. the neighbourhood nearly an hour,

then went inland, returned, and renewed the attack, when - the weather cleared and it was starlight. Another Zeppelin, was sighted this morning in a south-eastern county at a great height. It did not drop bombs, and steered towards Ost'end. SOME STRANGE SCENES , ONE OF' THE RAIDERS HIT. By Telegrapl—Press Aseotiation—Copyright (Reo. March 7, 11.10 p.m.) London, March 7. The Zeppelins apparently traversed Norfolk without dropping bombs. About a dozon were dropped in a field in Rutland without doing damage. When the Zeppelins appeared over Kentish waters the searchlights picked them up, and nearly three hundred shots from rifles and shells were fired at the raiders, who were kept in view for twenty minutes. Thoy dropped four bombs and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, which eye-witnesses declare the Zeppelins produced. Bombs fell in a field excavating largo cavities. A shell burst close to a raider. There were strange scenes when bembs were falling in tho .snowclad streets. The sky was suddenly lighted by tho flash of incendiary bombs, then a crash, and the raiders were buried in tho drifts ot fast-falling snow. The spectators believed tliat the last one of the Zeppelins was hit. Eye-witnesses, with powerful glasses, declared that thoy saw a big rent in the envelope, the torn fabric flapping in the'"wind. There were snowstorms in Yorkshire on Sunday, and it was expected tho weight of tho snow upon tho envelope, which was as long as St. Paul's Cathedral, would press down the airship, but apparently it was above tho snow-clouds. GERMAN REPORT. Tho Berlin Admiralty state that some airships, on the night of March o, 1 heavily' bombarded _ the naval base at Hull and dock buildings on the Humbor, with good results. When observed, the airships were vigorously, but unsuccessfully, fired on, and they returned in safety. \ !