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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0014.PDF
\fiML In the communique issued in Paris at 3 p.m. on Sunday, there was the following :— "A German dirigible dropped about ten bombs on Nancy in the middle of the town, without there being any military grounds for doing so. Our aeroplanes, on the contrary, bombarded the aviation sheds at Frescati, one of the stations of Metz where movements of trains have been reported, and the barracks of St. Privat at Metz." A note attached to the French official communique issued in Paris on Tuesday afternoon, stated :— " A German communique mentions that the bombard ment of Nancy by a Zeppelin was a measure taken as a reprisal for the bombardment of Fribourg, in Breisgau, by French aviators. French aviators, however, have never engaged in operations unless justified by military ® ® JANUARY 1, 1915- reasons. They have touched nothing in Fribourg but the hangars, the airship construction works, and the station from which the movements of troops were signalled. The French dirigible, which flew over Sarre- bourg, bombarded the railway station there, and the points' of the railway line Sarrebourg-Haricourt. Our aviators who flew over Metz yesterday threw bombs on the hangars of Frescati, on one of the railway stations, and on the St. Privat Barracks only. " On the other hand the German bombs thrown on Nancy fell in the middle of the town on a point far distant from any military buildings, and no troops what ever were gathered there. They could, therefore, damage none other but civil buildings, and could not make victims except among the civil population." ® ® AIRCRAFT AND THE WAR. IN a despatch from Warsaw, datedi December 20th, and sent to the Daily Telegraph, via Petrograd, Mr. Granville Fortescue said :— " Again Warsaw has suffered from an air raid. Taking advantage of the beautiful flying weather, three of the enemies' air assassins sailed high over the city. Little larger than the crows they looked to the naked eye as they poised over Warsaw. Exceptional sun shine had brought the city thousands to the streets. When they saw the threatening flying machines they disappeared like frightened fish. Every open door swallowed struggling mobs. The clock of the district court tolled the doleful one as the first bomb fell. It burst with a sharp report, shattering many windows. Three followed, dropping in a distant section of the city. The mangled tody of a foolhardy boy is the grim result of the dastardly attack. This and a ruined house, where the timbers still smoulder, is the record of this daring raid. As the aeroplane circled above the roofs a Rusiian aerogun sent shrapnel after shrapnel behind them. " ' The tinkle of the shattered glass was the main sound heard in the explosion. Of course, there was the " poom " when the bomb struck, but that lasted only a fraction of a second, while the shivered glass fell for a full minute after.' It was the spot where the first bomb fell. I quote the impression made by the explosion on one who heard it a short distance off. Luckily, this shell did no harm to the citizens, but there was evidence of what might have happened if some unfortunate had been near at the time the infernal machine struck. A section of iron railings, 2 in. in diameter, was cut through as sharply as if severed by a compressed-air steel-cutter. The walls of houses were' pock-marked with the holes made by the bomb- bullets. Some of these were driven into the sandstone. And of all the windows in the street where the missile fell not one remained. New panes lately puttied in place had replaced the shattered glass. "On the morning of the day I arrived here the German aviator assassin spilt another shell on the unfortunate city. This time also he failed to kill. But a description of the torn bodies of the victims of one of these raids, as given me by the American Consul, comes to my mind whenever I hear the whirring of an aeroplane, and there is no redress. Can there be any more dastardly crime committed in the name of war ? "At night, with the right wind, one sometimes hears firing. Yet to all outward appearance the civil population is indifferent to the situation. Indifferent until a distant humming plane sails circling overhead, the citizen knows sounds in the air. Then, as the menacing aeroplane sails circling overhead, the citizen knows that he lives in the hub of the wheel of war." News were received from Berlin in Amsterdam on the 21st ult. that a hostile aeroplane had passed over Brussels and dropped bombs at Etterbeek. It was fired at by the German soldiers, but escaped. It was reported in Copen hagen from the same source, that a British aeroplane passed over Brussels on the 22nd and dropped bombs on several military establishments. It also escaped the German fire. A Daily Telegraph correspondent sent the following from Petrograd on December 22nd :— " At Mutno the Germans shot down one of their own aeroplanes, which they thought was Russian. The machine was broken to fragments in the fall, and both officers in it were killed instantly." According to news received in Amsterdam, a hostile aviator appeared over Strasburg between 3 and 4 p.m. on December 22nd, and dropped a bomb on the suburb of Illkirch, damaging a shed and smashing the windows of a shop. Some of the splinters of the bomb fell in the river, but nobody was hurt. The aviator, who flew at a height of between 1,500 and 1,700 yards, came under the fire of the garrison. Writing of the Germans being driven back in the Bethune district, Mr. A. Beaumont wrote to the Daily Telegraph on December 22nd :— " Here again, as at Nieuport, they showed their spite when driven away by sending aeroplanes over the town and dropping bombs, one of which fell in the garden of the hospice and killed two little girls, one aged 4 and the other 9. These, unfortunately, were not the only victims, as about ten other civilians were killed and about twenty wounded by bombs from aeroplanes which have flown over the town during the bombardments." A correspondent of the Temps on December 22nd reported:— " A German aeroplane has dropped several bombs on Bethune, without, however, causing any damage to life or property. The enemy aeroplane was brought down shortly afterwards by English guns in the neighbourhood of Vieux-Berquin." A correspondent of the Tyd reported on Dec. 22nd :— " An aeroplane, carrying a searchlight, appeared over Bruges at ten o'clock last night. The aviator threw three bomb;, which caused heavy explosions. What damage was done is not known." A Morning Post correspondent at Christiania reported the following on December 22nd :— " An airship has again been observed over the southern Norwegian coast. A telegram from the town of Skien states that yesterday an airship passed, first eastward, then in a direct southern direction, between a quarter past eight and a quarter to ten in the morning. It was observed by a great number of persons. Some people sug gested that it was a mirage, but the most general opinion was that it was a Zeppelin engaged in making observations." Mr. Percival Phillips, writing to the Daily Express from the Belgian frontier on December 23rd, said :—• " I have reason to believe that the German airmen have begun using Zeebrugge as a base for aerial raids on the English coast. A reliable informant tells me that a large hangar capable of housing a number of aeroplanes ha= been erected near the Heyst tram station, in addition to a waterplane landing stage previously reported. German marines say that an airman flew across the Channel during the week-end." The Dutch Telegraaj on December 23rd published a report from Vlieland that a Zeppelin had been sighted at 1 p.m. that day. It came from the west and disappeared in a north-easterly direction. An airship was also seen at Tirschelling proceeding east. In an interview granted by Admiral von Tirpitz, the German Naval Minister, to Mr. Carl von Wiegand, the J4
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