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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 1166.PDF
«—«M- i mt >i*niiWW—it 0HHT] dated Tokyo, October 17th, received in London on November 23rd, was the following:— "Japanese aeronauts have made daring attempts at blowing up important buildings connected with the fortress at Tsing-tau, with but partial success, however. After each flight the airmen returned with their machines riddled with bullets, showing how close they had ventured toward the enemy so as to make sure of their aim. In this way the barracks, the wireless telegraph station, and the Governor's residence have been damaged, as well as some of the gunboats in the inner harbour, the fire from which had considerably interfered with the operations of the right wing of the investing army. As soon as the gunboats opened fire on the Japanese position the aeronauts began harrassing them with bombs, resulting in sufficient excitement among the gunners to render their aim for the most part ineffective." Writing from Boulogne on Tuesday, a Daily Telegraph correspondent said:— " A ' Taube' flew over Hazebrouck on Saturday at nine in the morning, throwing five bombs. "' The missiles were intended for the Central Station, but with one exception, they all fell far from the mark. Several people were injured, and two are said to be killed. A signal-cabin near the station was completely wrecked," Another message said that a second German aeroplane flew over Bailleul dropped a bomb on an ambulance, and killed three British wounded. In a semi-official account of the operations from November 15th to 21st issued in Paris on November 23rd were the following references to aircraft work:— " From the sea to the river Lys our artillery, perfecting its aim as the result of information from our aviators, has on several occa sions silenced the enemy artillery. . . . " On the front from the Oise to the Argonne our aeroplanes, in spite of rain, followed by keen cold, have done very good work. The services which they have rendered our artillery by enabling it to regulate its fire have been already mentioned. They have also on two occasions, on the Aisne and to the east of Rheims, compelled enemy aeroplanes to interrupt their mission and return to the German lines." Writing from Petrograd to the Daily Mail on Monday Mr. H. Hamilton Fyfe said :— " Winter has not yet really arrived in that part of Poland where the battle is going on. Both sides are hoping for harder weather, the Germans because the present state of the roads and fields makes the movements of troops and guns very difficult to an army accus tomed to manoeuvre under pleasanter and easier conditions. It also throws obstacles in the way of the use of aeroplanes, upon which they depend chiefly for information, either because they are short of horses or because they are saving up cavalry for future use. The Germans are making little use of the mounted arm, therefore it is essential to them to be able to send up airmen constantly. The wet ground, which is frozen during the night and thawed by the sunshine during the day, and often reduced to a morass, is the worst for landing. Two German aeroplanes have been bogged and have had their wings broken during the last few days through desceuding in such places." Writing from the North of France to the Daily Mail on Monday, Mr. Basil Clarke said:— "Midday is the usual hour for German aeroplanes to visit Dunkirk. So much so that midday is no longer known as twelve o'clock, but as ' Taube o'clock.' Half-past twelve is thus Taube et tiemi, and so on. Our last few visits have been comparatively harm less. But inland towns near us have been less fortunate of late than Dunkirk. On Friday, at 9.30 a.m., six bombs were let fall on Hazebrouck, where at the moment a recruits' examination was being held, causing big crowds in the streets about the town hall. Two bombs fell near the station, one in the Rue de Pres, two in the Rue des Hollandais, and another in a private garden. The one in the Rue des Hollandais was the most harmful. Windows and doors on both sides of the street were burst in ; three passing refugees were wounded badly. One had both arms blown off. He died on arrival at the hospital. Later came the bomb-dropping on Cassel, killing a woman and a child, of which I telegraphed you the same day. Later a visit to Poperinghe, which, as the town lies on the one open side of Ypres, the west, is filled with troops of all the Allied nations. Bombs fell on the church of St. Hubert, which was much damaged. Three people were killed—civilians, of course. At Amiens the same day fifteen bombs were let fall. Altogether a dirty day's work !" The Times correspondent at Boulogne wired on November 24th:— NOVEMBER 27, 1914. " Further particulars have reached me of the Taube attack on Hazebrouck last week. Six bombs were thrown. One fell in the Rue des Hollandais. On both sides of the street windows were broken and doors pierced by the bullets. Two refugees were seriously wounded. A workman had both arms blown off, and was also struck in the chest by a splinter of the shell. " At Armentieres two ' Taubes ' have been brought down by British gun-fire." In a despatch to the Daily Chronicle from Northern France, on November 24th, Mr. T. E. Elias said :— " German aviators have thrown bombs on Hazebrouck, Cassel, Amiens, and Armentieres. Civilians were killed in each place, and at Armentieres alone were the aviators punished. Here they exposed themselves to the fire of English aerial guns. Two of their machines were brought to the ground, and their four occupants killed." Writing to the Daily Mail on Tuesday from Rotterdam regarding the bombardment of Zeebrugge, Mr. James Dunn said :— " The Germans in Zeebrugge became demoralised. In desperate haste they attempted to remove their stores to Bruges, including the apparatus for making hydrogen for Zeppelins, but a section of the railway bad been blown up. "Before the bombardment the British warplanes scouted the north-west of Belgium, giving the disposition of the troops and guns.'' The Sluis correspondent of the Tyd, writing of the bombardment of Zeebrugge, wrote :— " Immediately after dawn English airmen reconnoitred the coast, where the German artillery was concealed with extraordinary cleverness, being partly buried in the slopes of the dunes with their muzzles pointing seawards. After the airmen returned to the Allies' lines the latter made attacks on the German infantry near Nieuport in conjunction with the Franco-English squadron which, continually firing, approached the coast." The following was sent by the Morning Post corre spondent at Christiania on November 24th :— " It is reported from Langesund, on the southern coast of Norway, west of Christiania Fjord, that the Custom House officer observed an airship at midnight on Saturday, near the Norwegian coast, flying [in a south-western direction from Langesund Fjord. The airship showed alternately red and white lights. For ten minutes it remained apparently stationary, and then moved off slowly in a western direction, finally disappearing over the south-western horizon. The officer's wife observed the vessel at the same time. The Scandinavian countries have no airships." Advices were received in Washington on Tuesday from Petrograd to the effect that a bomb from a German airship has fallen in front of the American Consulate in Warsaw, breaking the windows, but doing no injury to anyone within. The following was received in London on Nov. 24th from the Daily Chronicle correspondent in Northern France :— " The thou'iand pounds offered by the Germans for the capture, dead or alive, of Commander Samson, of the Royal Naval Flying Squadron, is another proof of how the enemy is impressed by the successful dropping of bombs from our skycraft. Commander Samson returned afer carrying out a peculiarly successful and daring flight over the enemy's lines. Leaving his base early in the morning, he made for the direction of Ypres and Courtrai. The temperature was bitter—5° below freezing point—and no opposing aeroplane ventured out under such conditions. Flying low, Com mander Samson dropped several bombs amid a body of cavalry, who quickly dispersed, leaving many dead and wounded. Despite shots from shrapnel and anti-aeroplane guns, Commander Samson proceeded with his flight into the hostile area, and hurled bombs on the railway lines south of Bruges. Then, satisfied with his work, he returned unharmed, and took a little ' exercise' on horseback. " A Naval airman tells the following story : ' During the recent bombardment of the German right wing by the monitors a Naval aviator who was directing the fire of the British cruisers was hit by a German bullet and forced to descend in hostile territory. He could see no enemy and was preparing to escape, when he heard a German voice say in good English : " Hi, where the are you going ? Come and have lunch."' "The airman had no option but to obey. He went with his captor, and had a good lunch. The Germans treated him well, and three days afterwards he escaped during a night attack, in which the enemy were forced to retreat hastily." 166
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