FIVE ZEPPELINS DOWNED.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 October 1917, Page 3

FIVE ZEPPELINS DOWNED.

AFTER BRITISH )RAID

PARIS. October 20

French headquarters report four Zeppelins returning from England were brought down or forced to land in France.

It is believed that a fifth was also destroyed.

FURL PARTICULARS.

PARIS. October 21. The first Zeppelin was shot down at. St. Elements, Meui'the Moselle* a.fc i o’clock on Saturday morning.

Throe airships were seen in company i travelling at 56 miles an lioUr against a head wind. Anti-aircraft guns opened; at a range of four thousand metres and the Zeppelins leapt to 5500 rnetmisThe fourth shell penetrated the 1 velope of one which ignited. One afr j the gondolas became detached arid feM > Then the Zeppelins rose upwards ami! 1 crashed to earth. Five bodies, fearful- jj ly mutilated, were found near by,, hut the remainder were buried in the ruins.

The s econd Zeppelin Li 9 was forced to land undamaged at 9.20., by chasing aeroplanes at Bourbonne, thirty miles west by south of Nancy. The Commander, second officer find seventeen; men wcjrti pgisonefred. The third I*so, alighted at Dammartin near Montigny Lekoi. Two officers and fourteen landed, of whom, two were slightly wounded. They released one of the Gondolas and ignited it, and the Zeppelins with four aboard,, swiftly re-ascended. A prisoner ' stated that LSO left, tlie base at Oldenburg on the 19th. and ‘lost its way i n a fog while returning to Germany, A fourth Zeppelin fell at Laragne near Gap in Provence at 10.50. . Two officers and fifteen men were prisonered, after burning the machine. The fifth was brought down at four

in the afternoon between Sistero n nncl Gap. The crew set fire to it, before, they were prisonered.

THE DISABLED ZEPPS. ! i . LONDON. October 22. . Apparently eleven aeroplanes were i engaged in the raid, of which eight, j reached Franco. Three others return- : ed via Holland. Airships wore reported disabled over Toulon, almost vertical and disappeared over the Mediterranean and it is believed they have, fallen into the sea. French aviators were compelled to abandon the pursuit, owing .to the approaching night. The Zeppelins were the largest yet seen. Some must have been in the air for thirty hours travelling twelve hundred miles. It is estimated that- where as there were eighty casualties in England,; the Germans have lost 141 killed or prisonered. THE GERMAN CLAIM. (Received this day at 1.20 a.m.,) LONDON, Oct. 22. Our airships’ squadron on Fridaynight made, a specially successful attack on London, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Derby, Lowestoft, Hull, Grimsby, Norwich, and Mappleton. When returning, owing to adverse winds and a dense mist-, four airships crossed the French battle-zone, where, according to the French, they were .shot down or forced down. There are no details of the fate of these vessels or crows yet available. CONSTERNATION CAUSED. AMSTERDAM, Oct. 22. The, Zeppeli u . disaster has caused widespread consternation in Germany. It is admitted that they demonstrate the failure of the Zeppelins as an. offensive weapon. LOST THEIR, WAY. PARIS, Oct. 22. A log-book of an undamaged Zeppelin shows the craft wore returning from England. Prisoners from three Zeppelins state they were sent to England and lost their way on the return journey. t . .

QER MAN PREP A RATI ONS. PARIS, October 22. A prisonered German stales that Germany is preparing for a gram; air offensive by masses of machines, forestalling those constructing in America. The Germans will include giant seaplanes, with four motors, carrying bombs weighing three hundred kilograms. The Gormans had two thousand aeroplanes in July and were sparing nc efforts to increase the number.

A NEW TYPE

JR outer’s Telegrams,

(Received this day at 12.30 a.m.) PARIS, Oct. 22.

The captured Zeppelins seem of a, nciv type, bigger than usual, and able to liy 110 kilometres hourly, and rise to six thousand metres.