MOTHER COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 July 1917, Page 5

MOTHER COUNTRY.

RECENT AIR RAIDS. WHAT THE GERMANS SAY. Now York, July 2. A New York Times special cabin from Berlin by the. commander of the recent air rniil on London gives a tlirillinar description of the air fights with TiritiVh aviators. He state? that the fierman aeroplanes flew in burets of .flame and with explos r ons all round While the commander claims that the raid was a success, he admits the erent da«h and gallantry of the Pritish airmen. The commander says:—"We left home a; 1(1 o'clock in the morning, approached the English eoase through a cloud hank cloud, and. leaving Sheerness, flew straight towards London. Noi\v the British shells reach our altitude. We climb higher, following the windings of the Thames. As the cloud bank rolls away we see our goal, namely. London's sea of houses, then, far below. appears the first of England's pursuing machines. LittU clouds of cotton seemingly by majrie appear in our path. These are exploding shells, and they multiply with astounding rapidity. We fly through them till we see the Thame3 bridges, the Tower of London, and the Bank of England. "It is now time to attack. I push the levers and anxiously follow the flight of the bombs. As they strike it is a magnificent, terrific spectacle from mid air. The earth seems to rock and the houses seem to disappear in craters. Meanwhile projectiles from the defence? guns are exploding and fluttering all round.

"Our escape seems miraculous. English fliers suddenly appear ahead blocking our return. Aeroiplanes appear on each side, above and below and. as all started firing the noise was terrific. The machines opened fire at 200 metres. One Englishman was particularly tirave and tenacious, and gave u~ no lvst, but kept up an incessant running fire for ton minutes, the 'bullets showering all around our heads -and cutting through the planes, till at last a whole sheaf of shots entered his body and the machine fell." The narrative is a remarkable admission of the terrific nature of the British defence fire, showing that the range was accurate and that British aviators in large numbers quickly mounted to repel the attacks. The narrative does not claim military works as the objoe tives.