OCR Text |
Show 1 1 16 Aeroplanes Drop Explosives Killing 76 Men, Women and Children , I i GERMANS RAID j GIATIITAIN Bombs in Large Number Propped on Crowded Streets of English Town. SEVENTY-SIX KILLED ! Squadron of Five Fly at Great l Height Explosives Fall , j Continuously. play; are a town on the southeast id .', COAST OF ENGLAND. Friday even- ing, May 25, via London. May 26. ninj The most ambitious airplane raid yet im." undertaken by the- Germans on Great I Britain, occurred here late this after- ;.9r noon "while the streets were crowded -j(w with shoppers, promenaders and work- ers returning to their homes. The Ject raiders dropped a large number of egl . bombs apparently in haphazard fash- ion from a mile or two above the town, killing seventy-six persons, most- -.y.j ly women or children, and injuring " nearly 175 more. - The first raider to arrive was the ;ggj leader of a squadron of five. It was flying at such- height that it could not be seen agarnst the brilliant sunlight Wl which flooded the cloud-flecked sky, except by trained observers with good glasses The raider was followed by . tho other four at a slightly lower ele-. ele-. vauon. They sailed in a bee-line ""j across town, dropping bombs continuously. contin-uously. Many persons in the streets first learned of the air raid when they heard explosions of bombs around them. The zone in which the bombs 3 I iere dropped cut a wide swath across the city with the chief damage in the g shopping and residential districts. The 22 bombs, which were of large size, de- At molished completely houses and small Enops which they struck. Distant Inland Villages Bombed. Reports this evening from the surrounding sur-rounding districts indicated there was fome bombing of neighboring villages, J even some distance inland. These S bombs mostly were dropped as the German airplanes were making a wide k' circle to approach this town from the " B land side I The Intervals of comparative quiet 1 after the departure of each squadron I of raiders were only broken by the A sound of distant firing of naval guns I out at sea and were even moro har- I rowing to the populace than were the 1 brief periods when the bombs were I actually bursting in the town. 1 1 Hospitals Crowded I After each visit the people In shel- 1 ters or cellars asked each other 1 whether this was the last. Hours af- 1 ter the last raider had gone many people kept to their shelters in tho I belief that more raiders were coming. I 1 1 There was much employment for vol-Ij vol-Ij untary relief workers this evening. I The hospitals were crowded not only 1 with injured, but with women and chil- dren suffering from shock, while the !. police and contables had their hands I full patrolling the devastated districts 1 and doing the grewsome work of res-1 res-1 cue, Identification and hundreds of odds and ends which such a crisis 1 brings to an unprepared town. Story of- Eye Witness. LONDON, May 26, 1:05 p. m. Wit- nesaes of tho German air raid describe the first appearance of the hostile mail ma-il chines flying at a great height toward 1 the coast in formation of fives. The If first lot appeared over the town and I dropped a shower of bombs on the 1 shopping center. This was followed in I quick succession by other groups. The I visit was short and the hostllo ma-I ma-I , chines were flying very high. British 1 airplanes promptly went up in pursuit I of them and a regular pitched battle occurred over the sea, In which tho n neemg onemy machines were obvious-. obvious-. ly worsted. 1; A correspondent in a southeastern tt , coast town says the weather was fine when the raid occurred and the German Ger-man machines looked like silver Pecks. During the bombardment, J?hich was Intensely violent for a quarter quar-ter of an hour, tho raiders dropped a ! large number of high-explosive bombs. I The greatest damage was done In tho "Jain business street. The eBtablish- inent of a fruit merchant was entirely oemolished. At this particular spot jjjB bodies o women and men and 'he carcasses of horses wore lying about the street after the raid. The People killed were mostly those who ventured out to watch the raiders. The first squadron of five airplanes as followed after short intervals by a second Bquadron and then a third and fourth, each of which repeated thetactics of the first group. The worst damage done was from j1 group of bombs which struck tho business thoroughfare, thronged with : People. At one spot here slxtoon women, wom-en, eight men and nino children were tilled and 42 persons were injured. I LONDON, May 26. Gorman airships to tho number of about 16 raided southeast England on Friday evening, I according to an official statement is- sued today. Seventy-six persons wore Jlled and 174 persons injured. Three .'4 r thoGerman airships were shot 7 Continued on Pago 6) t . f J r sssa in i i r' i- 'i ,-ifM iwei J GRHTJjHIIiUN ( Continued from Pago 1 ) The raiding aircraft which were I brought down here airplanes. I Nearly all the damage occurred In I one town where some bombs fell in : I the streets, causing considerable cas- I ualtles among the civilian population. 'I Official Report. : Tho following roport on the air raid : I was niado by Field Marshal Viscount I French: I "A large squadron of enemy air- 'I craft about 16 attacked southeast . I England between 5:15 and 6:30 o'clock k I last evening. Bombs wore dropped at $m a number of places but nearly all tho damage occurred in ono town where fil some bombs fell into the streets, caus- X If ing considerable casualties among the 1 H civil population. Soma shops and il houses also were seriously damaged. 1 1 "Tho total casualties reported by 1 1 the police frpm all districts are: II "Killed, 76; injured, 174. I "Of the killed, 27 were women and 23 were children, while 434 women and 19 children were Injured. "Airplanes of the Royal Flying corps went in pursuit and the raiding aircraft air-craft were engaged by fighting squadrons squad-rons of the Royal Naval Air service from Dunkirk on their return journov. The admiralty reports that three enemy en-emy airplanes were shot down later by the latter." : This is the second German air raid i on England within three days. On i Wednesday night four or five German aircraft flew over the eastern Eng- ! lish counties and dropped a number of ' bombs, killing one pian. For six previous prev-ious months no attack on England had been made from tjie air following two j ( disastrous raids in which three Zeppelins Zep-pelins were destroyed. -H Fight on the Channel. a LQNDON, May 26, 10:23 a, m. f Three hostile airplanes, returning from last night's raid on England, 1 were brought down by British air 1 forces in tho "TCnirlfeli onl j m m tho Belgian coast, the admiralty announced an-nounced today. The admiralty state- ! ment says: "Naval airplanes attacked the air- ' drome at St. Denis Wes.tre, near ! Bruges, yesterday morning, dropping ! ' many bombs. ; "In the evening several enemy aircraft, air-craft, returning from the raid on Eng- ! land, were engaged oversea by roval i naval air service machines, An "encounter "en-counter took place between one Brit- 'I ish and three hostile airplanes in mid- i I channel and one of the latter was de- I stroyed. Several encounters also took j J I Place off tho Belgian coast, In which II two largo twin-epglned hostile ma- I. ch nes were shot down. All our ma- f It chines returned safely." ? . i ,:k BERLIN, May 26, via London, 4:39 ' :'l p. m, Gorman ajr squadrons yester- i -M day dropped bombs, on Dover and j ' I Folkestone, the war department an- ' ' pounced today. : |