IN THE AIR.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 15 June 1917, Page 5

IN THE AIR.

GERMAN AIR RAID LARGE FLEET FLYS AT GREAT HEIGHT. GUNNERS EXPERIENCE GREAT DIFFICULTY. STREETS CROWDED WITH SPECTATORS. LONDON, June 13. Twelve or thirteen aeroplanes reached the coast of North Foreland and crossed Essex. Thirteen bombs fell on the city. All anti-aircraft guns and defences in the areas affected got into action. The gunners’ first difficulty was to locate the raiders, who were very high, owing to mist and low-lying clouds. Brilliant sunshine also made marksmanship * difficult, but afterwards they got in good work.

The first intimation of a raid on the city was the noise of guns and dense masses of smoke rising at various points where bombs had fallen. The streets were soon densely crowded with onlookers. Some women were inclined to be hysterical. There was a local panic for a few moments, but the majority of the people showed splendid spirit. Police and soldiers handled the situation with commendable promptitude. The King, immediately he heard of the raid, visited the affected areain a car and saw the wounded in hospital. The raiders never descended below 17,000 or 18,000 feet. Besides hitting an East End school, when ten children were killed, bombs fell within twenty yards of a school where there were 1000 children. They had been drilled to meet the emergency and all got under the desks and remained there till the teacher read a story, After the raid the raiders wereseen passing the coast and going , towards Germany. They were chased,' but cloirds assisted their escape. TERRIBLE SCENES AT A SCHOOL. ' _ LONDON, June 14. Eight raiders werb‘ clearly seen fob’ lowing the Thames, ’thice flying on the south side. ’ x Tlle majority of the deaths were those of East London children, including two mutilated babies unidentified. A bomb killed ah entire family. The father wa s nursing three days old beside th e convalescent mother. Thehouse was wrecked. :

Another story of 'the school catastrophe says that ' te'frible scenes were witnessed. The teachers were about to dismiss the children':for - lunch, when a bomb fell squarely WV the roof. Only a small hole was made/ ‘but the full explosion took place within the> room. The children/, screamed and , fainted. The ; teachers bravely strove to pacify their little charges. One teacher was badly wounded. The remainder stuck to their posts, some rendering first aid and others taking the uninjured children to safety. Soldiers assisted in removing the injured in waggons to a hospital, writhing in pain and moaning piteously. Many died in their desks. The dead had terrible wounds.

Will Crooks was a hundred yards from the school which was bombed. He threw himself on the ground and escaped injury. Mr. Crooks is astonished that any child survived. The four walls were blown out and the desks and seats smashed to atoms.

LONDON, June 14.

A bomb demolished a block of offices all floors being wrecked and a dozen killed, including two who were ordered to go to the basement but went into the street. One lost an arm and the other both legs. Both died in a few moments. Several were buried on the upper, floors. A bomb falling in a workshop killed three and injured thirty.

RAILWAY STATION BOMBED.

LONDON, June 13.

Official.—Bombs first dropped on the outskirts of East London at 11.30. Numerous bombs fell in rapid succession in the East End. One fell on a railway station, hitting an incoming train. Seven were killed and seventeen injured hero. Another fell on a school, killing ten children and injuring fifty. A number of -warehouses were damaged and fires were caused. The train which was bombed when arriving at a station quickly got alight. There were many casualties. The station was barricaded. The work of rescue and removal of the dead was carried out rapidly. Several were unrecognisable. Suburban trains resumed within an hour.

Several aerial torpedoes were discharged. One crashed into a teablending store, . killing six girls and seriously injuring sixteen.

german report. BOMBED THE “FORT” OP LONDON Received 8.45. LONDON, June 14. A German wireless official report says: Our airmen bombed the “Fort” of London. CHILDREN FEARFULLY INJURED HANDS AND FEET BLOWN OFF. ANGUISHED MOTHERS SCALE THE WALLS. Received 8.45. LONDON, June 14. Harrowing scenes occurred at the East End School, where a bomb penetrated the roof, and killed a girl on the top floor and several boys in the senior class on the next floor. It exploded in the infants’ room on the ground floor, scattering sixty-four infants. The teachers were uninjured, but, covered with blood they worked heroically. Soldiers and bluejackets kept removing the maimed bodies. Exercise books and shattered slates were clasped in little hands and portions of nine boys and girls were carried out and laid on the roadside; others wer e terribly mutilated, hands and feet being blown off. Anguished mothers flecked to the school, and being debarred admission, frantically scaled the walls.

THE RECENT AIR RAID

HEAVY DEATH ROLL OF WOMEN

AND CHILDREN.

Received 5.55,

LONDON, June 14.

The High Commissioner renorts;— Latest police reports regarding the air raid yesterday give the casualties as follows;—Killed: men 55, women 1(5. children 2(i; total 97. Wounded: men 223, women 122, children 94; total 439. No military or naval damage was done.

REPRISALS SUGGESTED BY ' AMERICAN PAPER.

Received 8.55 a.m

NEW YORK, June 14,

The : New York Sun, in an editorial, says: "We arc able to crash the German air forces, and suggest air raids against Germany in reprisal for the London attacks. /

..THE KING’S ANGER,

"THEY WILL DO ANYTHING."

LONDON, June 14,

When viewing the dead bodies of women and children at the mortuary, the King bitterly exclaimed "It makes my blood boil. They do anything."

Bombs missed two historic London buildings by a few yards.

The raid lasted fifteen minutes,

In London guns engaged the raiders. Many aeroplanes both naval and military, mounted as soon as the ondmy .were reported off the coast. Several .engagements occurred-, the results of which are at present uncertain. PATHETIC SCENES AT HOSPITALS COMMENTS BY THE PRESS. Received 11.50 a.m LONDON, Juno 14. Further deaths of the raid bring the total to 103. Pathetic scenes took place -■ gt the hospitals throughout the night. /Many waited for long hours for news .of missing relatives. , Newspapers comment ion th)c fact that the raiders are not vigorously attacked before reaching London, and also ask why warning was not given when the authorities knew of their arrival on the coast fifty minutes before reaching London. Some newspapers call for the sternest reprisals. ZEPPELIN DESTROYED. Received 8.55 a.m. LONDON, June 14. ‘A Zeppelin has been destroyed in the North Sea. THE DESTROYED ZEPPELIN. Received 11.50 a.m, LONDON, June 14. Mr. Bonar Law, in the House of Commons, stated that Zeppelin L 43 was destroyed in the North Sea this morning. She burst into flames fore and aft, .broke in twain, and fell into the sea. |No survivors were seen. GERMANY’S INTERNAL TROUBLES. ONLY IMMEDIATE PAECE . WILL SAVE MILITARY PARTY. Received 8.55. LONDON, June 14.

President Wilson, in a speech, said the only change Germany’s military masters had of perpetuating their power is through an immediate peace, otherwise popular Government will be established in Germany.