Norwich bulletin., 1917-08-01
STORIES OF THE WAR
Letter Describes London Air Raid.

1 A former Springfield girl, now re- siding in the northern suburbs of Lon don, in the vicinity of Tendon. one of l the big British aviation stations, in a 1 letter written the day following the July German air raid on London gives little idea of the state of mind 1 of Londoners on such occasions. The young woman was residing in Ant werp at the beginning of the war and escaped from that city, with her hus- band and baby and what personal be- 1 longings could be carried in a suit ase, on the last boat leaving Antwerp
 for Harwich, Eng, before the coming of the Germans. She has seen from her suburban home. nearly all of tke Zeppelin and airpiane raids upon Lon = don, watched the bursting of shrapnel in the vicinity of the enemy aircraft. and felt the concussion of bursting aerial bombs not far distant from her
 own home Telling of the recent air plane raid she writes in part as fol- lows:
 T thought yesterday morning that should never write to you again.
 About 10 minutes after I had gone out into the garden in the middle of the
 forenoon I heard faint and distant fir ing. Every day we hear them at
 practise with the guns. quite near and
 loud. but this was different and very
 rapid. l called my neighbor, and as
 we both listeped the firing became
 louder and I said it surely was a raid
 and went into her house with baby, as
 was at home alone, Mir. - being in
 the city. Then the woman in the next
 house came in with her children, the
 firing of the antiaircraft guns grow
 window, and what do you think we saw-the German airplanes. There were about 20 of them abreast and trail behind them which ended in the swarm of bees, although every one of the airplanes in the front row was distinctly visible. The air was filled with the droning noise they all make when flying. We now learn that the long trail behind them was not hun dreds more of airplanes. but our shrapnel bursting beneath and be- hind them.
 "The airplanes were making bee line for our place and we felt that we were done for this time, as there was no time to get to the underground, or subway a half mile away, and two- story houses are demolished if hit by 0 bomb. I tried to think of the fell in from concussion, should a bomb or bombs fall in the garden. I ran back into the house and pushed the diningroom table up in front of the upright piano, as that was the strong est piece of furniture handy. Frances and then crouched under the front of the piano for about 20 minutes she sitting on the floor and I bending over AeI, uSSteIiHlneu to protect ner as much I could. All this time the firing of the air-defense guns. which is deafen1ng, came nearer ad near CT and the whirr of the German air planes could be heard inside the house, and at intervals the explosions of the German bombs. They had look ed low down and seemed to be flying so slowly, and as we had not seen the English airplanes leave our neighborhood we came to the conclu- sion that they were too many for LIS and we could not cope with them.
 But we were to be spared this time They were coming directly northwest when we first saw them, but before they reached a point overhead they turned in the shape of a letter 'U' and went back to Hunland. Not one was brought down at London, but two