25 MAY 1918, Page 2

Enemy airmen in great fOrce made a raid on London

on the night of •Whit44unday.- Favoured by the bright moon in a cloudless sky, betWeen twenty and thirty Gothas came in two groups, one flying up the Thames and-the other passing over Essex. The raiders which crossed- the London defences dropped a few dozen bombs promiscuously in certain parts of London; killing forty-four persons and injuring one hundred andseVenty-nine—inoluding a few casual- ties • outaideLondon—and wrecking some small houses. A number of the victims met their death because they were loitering in the streets instead of taking cover. The raiders were received with a very heavy barrage fire -from the anti-aircraft guns, -and were attacked with much:vigour -by our aeroplanes. They suffered greater losses than had •ever before been inflicted on a • raiding squadron in this- area. Two were destroyed on their way to London, one by a British air- man and the other by gunfire. Two were brought down on their way back, one of them being destroyed by a British airman. A fifth was set on fire and fell into the sea. Two-others probably met the same fate: