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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0049.PDF
JANUARY 15, 1915. " There has been exceptional activity on the part of the enemy's flying men of late ; and on most days during the past week aero planes have been seen in the vicinity of Dunkirk and Calais, whilst bombs have been dropped over other towns during the last 48 hours. For instance, yesterday morning an aeroplane made its appearance over Hazebrouck, and discharged three bombs, but, happily, none of them burst. Two British aeroplanes gave chase, but the German escaped. '' The same morning from a Taube came three bombs aimed at the railway station at Armentieres. Anti-aircraft guns, mounted in readiness to meet any such raid, were soon in action, and the aero plane histily retreated before the shower of shrapnel. " Then there was an exciting incident at Abbeville—an open town, by the way—an aeroplane releasing bombs which fell" on ploughed land on the outskirts, without doing damage. The German aeroplane which aimed these futile shots went off following the Calais to Paris railway line. "Yet another of these German raids is to be recorded, and this was at Doullens, where bombs fell into the river." Another correspondent of the same paper reported the following from Deal:— '' Considerable vigilance and activity have been displayed off Deal and along this part of the coast to-day. "At 10.30 this morning an aircraft, flying at a great height— from four to rive thousand feet—made two wide-sweeping movements over the Downs, as if searching for something, and then rapidly steered in a south-westerly direction. "At 12.45 p.m. another aircraft was seen, flying much higher than the first machine, so high, in fact, that although the weather was beautifully calm and still, the noise of her engines could not be heard. When over Deal she appeared to be but a speck in the clear sky, but was easily distinguished with the aid of glasses. For nearly 15 mins. the airman cruised in this neighbourhood, and after making a wide detour over the Downs took a zigzag course inland. " At four o'clock another machine, also flying high, came over from the north-west, skirted the sea off Deal, and proceeded in a southerly direction." Mr. C. E. Tripp, a Daily Chronicle correspondent at Amsterdam, reported on the same date :— "There was activity on the part of the'Allies' airmen over the Belgian coast yesterday morning. For an hour or two heavy firing was directed by the enemy at the aircraft." It was reported from Paris on Monday that two German aeroplanes had attempted to fly over Paris on the previous day, one coming from the direction of Mont Didier and Pontise and the other from Dam- martin. French aircraft, however, immediately ascended and put the hostile aviators to flight. The following account of the aerial attack on Dunkirk last week end was sent by Mr. G. Ward Price to the Daily Mail on Monday :— " The biggest air raid of the whole war was carried out by the Germans against Dunkirk yesterday. Fourteen armoured Aviatik biplanes formed the attacking force and cruised over the town from 11 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. The tocsin sounded first from the high tower of Dunkirk church at 11 a.m., and the blue and white flag of the town was run up on the staff. Then a solitary biplane appeared from the east. It was the scout in advance of the main body of the squadron. In spite of the warning bell people gathered in the main square of the town and the side streets to look at the gleaming aircraft overhead, for though this was the third con siderable air-raid on Dunkirk they thought that this was only a solitary biplane. Only a few minutes passed, however, before the tocsin rang again, and this time five German aeroplanes swam into sight in the clear sky. One aeroplane came from the north, from the sea, the four others from the east. All five were together over the central square of Dunkirk at a height of only 3,000 ft. Mean while the guns of the forts were ranging on them with shrapnel, and all round the German fliers the white puffs were bursting. One of the biplanes turned back, and as the sun glinted on the steel sides the few people who had not taken shelter in their cellars raised a cheer, for they thought it was on fire. However, more and more of the airmen came, while the first went on to drop their bombs on Dunkirk's suburbs—Malo, Coudekerque, Rosendael, and St. Pol. " In all 50 bombs were dropped, some explosive and some incen diary. In Malo five people were killed ; in Dunkirk one. "At St. Pol several people also were killed, but as no official statement has been issued it is impossible to give exact figures. It is even said that four were killed at Adinkerke, six miles away. (/JJGHT] " Two of the raiders were brought down by gun-fire, one near the flying ground outside Dunkirk, and another on its way home, at Wulpen, which is twenty miles away towards the German lines, to the north of Furnes. " The absence of a large number of French aeroplanes from Dunkirk yesterday was evidently known to the Germans, probably through spies, of whom several have been recently arrested in the town. One French machine went up against the host, but six of them immediately set themselves to surround it, and it had to come down. Another Daily Mail correspondent reported on Monday :— " The importance of the great German air-raid on Dunkirk on Sunday is the greater by reason of the fact that the raid was intended to harm the French President, who was expected at Dunkirk to present a flag to the famous French Marine Fusiliers. "The President did not arrive until this morning, but that the German airmen were misinformed by their spies is evident from the fact that at the end of their day's bomb-dropping they threw down weighted streamers on t<> the town which bore the words ' Bon jour, 1'oincare ; a demain.' " A Times correspondent in Northern France, writing on Monday, said :— " It is believed in some quarters that the aeroplanes which threw bombs in Malo-les-Bains and Dunkiik are the same which'were sighted in the Channel on Sunday morning and that, having failed to reach England, they vented their displeasure upon the French port. "The raid calls attention once more to the fact that modern warfare, like that waged with bows and arrows, is to some extent at the mercy of the wind. On Sunday morning the wind was too strong lo allow of a flight across the Channel. For the same reason the rumour that a Zeppelin approached Calais on Saturday night can scarcely be regarded seriously. Indeed, in well-informed circles here the idea of a Zeppelin raid on any considerable scale during the present boisterous weather is, to say the least of it, improbable." Writing from the Belgian frontier on Monday to the Daily Express, Mr. Percival Phillips said:— " Information reached me late this evening that yesterday's attempted raid on towns in the possession of the Allies by more than a dozen German aeroplanes, which was frustrated owing to the sudden storm and high wind, began at Ghistelles, a village to the south-east of Ostend, which is now an important base of the aerial wing of the enemy's forces in Flanders. Already fifteen hangars have been constructed there, with sheet iron roofs covered with sandbags as a protection against bombs dropped from overhead. Ghistelles is a safe base, as it is well beyond the range of the Allies' warships. Anti-aircraft guns have been mounted in large numbers." A Daily Telegraph correspondent in Paris on Monday wrote :— " M. Millerand, Minister of War, and General Gallieni and his staff this morning visited in the entrenched camp of Paris the head quarters of the defence organisation against Zeppelins. The head of this service showed to M. Millerand the working of anti- Zeppelin guns and fof searchlights. Commander Girod, head of the aviation service of the entrenched camp of Paris, passed for the Minister's review the machines and their pilots. M. Millerand pro nounced himself entirely satisfied with the measures taken and the results achieved. " Within a short time the population of Paris will, through a communication to the Press, be advised of measures taken for a possible reduction of lighting in the capital. The warning is intended to obviate surprise or distress, in case of sudden alarm." A Daily Mail correspondent, writing from Rotterdam on Tuesday, said :— " A severe blow to German hopes has been caused by the great fire last night at Antwerp. The important oil works of Van Gorpen and Co. and Martens and Co. were entirely destroyed, together with food stores and twelve houses. " The blaze was visible at Putten, on the Dutch frontier. The origin of the fire is a mystery. Travellers from Bergen-op-Zoom say that it was due to a bomb dropped by an aeroplane, but I cannot confirm this statement." According to information obtained by the Nieuwe Rotte?-damsche Courant, the Germans are very busy building aeroplane sheds at Ghent and Brussels. 49
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