Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-10
HUN AIMED TO DESTROY
LONDON FROM PLANES
80 Air Raids Caused Great Losses,
Authorities Reveal Now the
War is Over.

London, Jan. 5-In the fulness
OF time the authorities of the depart
ment whose business il is may, in an
adequate official publication, tell Lon
doners the full story OF the air raids,
writes Colonel ". L. Reay, o. b. t. in
The London Telegraph so far, the
only details v0uchSafed, besides an Off
cial statement of figures, are those con
tanned in the admirable review OF the
work OF units under his command. writ
ten by Lieutenant Commander >. Sia-
den, r.. n, who lately retired from the
control of the London Fire Brigade.
Even this document Is not III print Tor
public purchase or circulation, but the
newspapers have given extracts from
1t, to the cnlightmcnt Of citizens For
the people were kept IN ignorance dur
ing the war, lest publication would
prove guiding knowledge to an enemy
anxious 30 correct his mistakes and
thus reach ohlectives which he almost
invariably missed.
Good reasons arc given by Com
mandcr Sladen for the view that II was
the pruposr Of the enemy 10 burn Lon
don We may all agree with the com
mander and still think that the enemys
design was also 10 kill for the sake OF
the killing, and, Of course, TO create
panic. 70 make the British capital un
tenabc for its own people, to keep the
population IN a continuous state oi
alarm, to dislocate its industry, and to
esta .Iish in these concurrent circum~
stances the conditions under which the
scourgcd and beaten Bnt0n would gra-
ciouslv ask permission 10 kiss the chas~
tening hand ot The awful Kaiser
may one not assume this to be q rough
- Il Il tx.&er l4nsva
gram OF the tragic events incidental
to the endcavor to carry il out for citl-
zcns would. we think, like 10 hear
much more than has yet been told,
though hints have been Afforded by the
newspaper reports ot certain ren: ,lles-
tons raiscd and of compensation suits
q hich followed the destruction Of house
and other property
Tho Special Constahuiary of Lon
don had ;he much -prlzcd honor 81
standing between the enemy and some
- his purposes. While tho soldier ~
his gun station % in the air faced the
invader. checked hiu at The nation
gatewave and beat him OF # be 60
through into it's home. While the aat
liant fircmcn guaranteed that our say
age foc would not be permitted TO burn
IFS out 10 both efforts the Special
Constabulary observation posts Naluablv
contributed snd Rhilc the ambulance
service did It's noble work q saving
life and amelIorating pam. the police
force, regular and auxiliary, IN every
nook and corner of tho 7n0 squsra
miles of the metropolitan district, gave
to the citizens just that help, assurance
and comfort which the circumstances
called for. Gave II ST ali costs and
regardless of personal peril from bombs
or shrapncl, when the call vas 70 the
blood Of the racc quite II the same
spirit as the soldier gave service and
faced death in the field oF battle.
There were il All thirty-two actual
RAIDS Oh Iondon. but the enemy air
craft crossed She south or southeast
coasf more than eighty tunes Eighty
SIX official wa-ings vent out and on =
number 0f other occasions command
eTs and station chiefs werc called 70
their posts fnr the portentS were ad-
verse and the need for speedy mobIli-
zstion was considered probable Mobih-
eaton meant IN antIcipstlon OF the
take cover order. manning the shell
tcrs. the aggregate of which, IN the
metropolitan police area. we estmate
at shout LOO. while the approximate
nurnbe- az people they would hold we
max safely put ST. 800, 600
One would not he fan our N aSSuIn-
ing that on s raid night something !.
ike a million of people used these shell {
ters There were warnings fhrSt stage /
and mobilization second stage or nights +
when no take cover order third stage
was found necessary, the enemy having
been driven oil Rut i We reached the
third stage from % 900 70 p 600 spe- /
cial consta bIes would he on duty for, /
In ADDITION n the men Of the division,
and the headquarters UNITS, the !. @ .. +
detachment mustered Il, full strength, .
while some l 500 men Of tha General
p0stoffce detachment, more thar 600
serving n the Office - Woris and
almost the whole trength ..bout = 500, !.
of the private firms >ttested men were
a. their posts n point ot numbers
then, il viii bc seen .hat on tins service
Is engaged no mean section o. Lou-
don manhood. robust aS it was willing
although not Of the age thought fit
for the trenches s grateful London
viii ne yer forget that
The enemy. VIC have said. got through
70 London on -hirty-tWo occasions,
bur he was IN The coastal counties proba-
blv twice as often To the strain Of the
necessary activity when he vas actually
here must he added ;hat Of expectancy
and preparation when he was on our
side of s sea which, since fying became
possible, 10 longer completely served
England in the off &c Of a wall When
the enemy arrival IN London seemed
imminent, o. even when il was known
that he Was SURFING il hir lar on a like,
night Tor crossing. o,r defensive
and auxilary services got busy as
the Americans SAY
.'As all know dark nights were the
likely ones fnr the Zeppelins while
Inoonhgh' favored the arplanes Given s
lar weather then. once the enemy got
gong With both cisoses Of machines I
neither aariuess nor light was in itscli
ecurity agaln- his coming. On fifty
c.ght q The lghty-eix occasions when
official warnings went 70 the special
there was 3 general order
70 mobilize
4 ~