The death-roll in the first raid, considering the large number
of airships at work, the amount of country covered, and the quantity of bombs dropped, cannot be described as large. Thirty-eight persons were killed—twenty-three men, twelve women, and three children—and one hundred and twenty-five injured—fifty-six men, forty-three women, and twenty-six children. A certain amount of damage was done to a South London suburb, but we hope we shall not be accused of being brutal or indifferent to individual suffering when we say that the losses, if seen in true proportion, were wholly insignificant. We are at war, and the country, containing within the attackable area some thirty-five million people, is liable to invasion by the enemy through the air. That being so, we must marvel rather at the paltriness than the heaviness of the casualties. The destruction of buildings, though here again a good deal of misery and inconvenience was no doubt caused to individuals, was negligible. By this we mean that no buildings of any importance, either com- mercially or architecturally, were damaged. A number of private houses were injured or destroyed. That is all.
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