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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0802.PDF
JycBg who was in the ground-floor rooms when the bombs exploded, and who was knocked over by the force of the explosion, picked himself up and made his way up the broken staircase to his bed-room on the floor above, and immediately went to bed, in spite of the fact that the glass of the windows and the shutters behind them in his bed room had been shattered by the force of the explosion. "The third area contains two damaged business premises, the first of them a large and modern building constructed of reinforced concrete, and wiih a steel and concrete roof and flooring. Two bombs dropped in this building, one of them actually on the roof and one on the pavement immediately beneath the doorway. The bomb on the pavement appears to have exploded sideways—at any rate, the damage done, which consisted chiefly of broken glass and plaster, occurred mainly in the houses on the other side|of the street. The bomb which dropped on the roof of the building itself did little damage. In the same area a bomb dropped on the roof of a small hotel, the ground floor of which was occupied as an office. In this case the strength of the building, which was an old one, was not sufficient to withstand the force of the explosion, and the whole of the hotel, which consisted of three floors of the building, was entirely blown up. Fortunately in this area those indoors had been warned by the sound of previous explosions, and by taking refuge in the lower floors they escaped injury altogether. In this area, as by a curious coincidence in one other, the effect of the bombs was severely felt in a small restaurant opened in the interests of Belgian refugees. " The fourth district in which damage was done is one consisting entirely of what may be called working class property, with small, low buildings, some of them used to house small shops or businesses, but, in most cases, occupied, and in many cases overcrowded, by private residents of the poorer classes. In this area more bombs were dropped than in those previously described and the damage done was exclusively suffered by private traders or househoulders, who behaved with the utmost heroism and coolness and who suffered damage, and, in some cases, loss of life, with no compensating military value for the enemy whatever. One group of small houses in this area was entirely destroyed by a single explosive bomb, and in the ruins, above which floats an evil smell of gas and drains, are to be found, torn and covered with dust, the account books and documents of some small business which up to half past nine on Wednesday night no doubt kept alive the owner and his family. In another spot in this district the bomb fell on the top of a building used for keeping dairy cattle. None of the cattle was killed, though one of them was injured. The dairyman, with presence of mind and coolness, made his way to the top storey of his house near by, in which all the windows were broken and most of the ceilings destroyed by the force of the explosion, and brought down his children to safety below. On his way downstairs on the last journey a further explosion blew him backwards on to the floor of ® ® The Defence of London. IN the House of Commons on Tuesday several questions were asked as to whether the aeroplanes which had been on duty for the defence of London received orders to demobilise at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13th, a few hours before the Zeppelin raid ; whether any other aeroplanes had received orders to take their place ; and whether, at the time of the arrival of the Zeppelins, any and, if so, how many aeroplanes were aloft ? Mr. Tennant, who replied, said that questions relating to aeroplanes on duty for the defence of London should be addressed to the Admiralty. The aeroplanes under military control, which were held in readiness to attack hostile aircraft, were not ordered to demobilise at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13th. The second part of the question did not, therefore, arise. The reply to the last part was in the affirmative. During the time the Zeppelins were over England, five military aeroplane* ascended. Of these three were in the air at the same time, and he believed three were over London. Precautions Against Air Raids. REPLYING to questions by Mr. Annan Bryce as to whether all lights on bridges should be ordered to be extinguished when a Zeppelin attack was expected, Mr. Brace said that the present arrangements have been settled on the advice of expert officers of the Admiralty. If further observations show that any improvement is possible, the arrangements will be modified accordingly. The lights in tram-cars are now extinguished when crossing the bridges, or so shaded as to be practically invisible. In regard to complaints as to blinds not being drawn in railway carriages on the Woolwich section of the S.E. andC.R., Mr. Brace said that steps were now being taken on this and other lines in the London area to post fresh notices in more imperative terms, drawing attention to the penalties for non-compliance with the order, and the company's servants will have instructions to see that the order is complied with. OCTOBER 22, 1915. one of the rooms, but he succeeded in bringing all his family out unharmed. After the aircraft had passed they returned to their rooms until they were awakened again by the sound of guns about midnight. " In the last area covered by the raid (this time in a suburb) there is not a single factory or business house, and hardly any shops. There are no military encampments, no store sheds, no aerial defences, and not even searchlights. All the property consists of detached or semi-detached houses surrounded by small gardens. It was in this district that, for some obscure reason, the largest number of bombs were dropped, and they must have been launched by what the commander of the Zeppellin, in his interview on the last raid, described as 'rapid fire.' The actual period of bombardment did not last a minute, and the distance from the spot where the first bomb dropped to the last could not have been more than six hundred yards. Within sixty yards no less than five fell together, while, near by, three fell in a single garden which did not measure more than thirty yards square. A striking and fortunate feature of the bombardment in this district, and, indeed of the whole attack on this occasion, is the number of cases in which the bombs dropped not on buildings but on the ground. In only three cases in this suburban area were houses actually struck, though, of course, the force of the explosion was sufficient to destroy whole houses, even at a considerable distance. " Here there were many astonishing escapes. In one instance a bomb fell on a narrow passage separating two bouses, the entire fronts of which were blown out, causing the upper bedroom floors to collapse. In one of the upper bedrooms a mother and daughter were sleeping. They were thrown out on to the street through the place where the ground floor window should have been, both escaping with their lives. In the next house a little boy lying in his cot was buried under the dibris of the wrecked roof of the house, and, in order to release him, the whole roof had to be lifted up, so securely was the cot pinned down. There was not a stick of furni ture nor a piece of china left whole in either of these two houses— only two small pictures remained with the glass unbroken. A large house a few yards away suffered very badly. The bomb fell right on the centre of it, killing instantly two children and severely injuring a third child and the father and mother. In the road in which this occurred twenty houses are without doors or windows, and every house is heavily pitted with shot marks. In one of the houses, where a woman was sitting on a sofa, the door of the room was forced open with such violence that the lock was wrenched from its fastening and struck the wall within a few inches from the woman's head. At another point, where a bomb fell in the street, a young man was saying ' good night' to a woman at the front door of the house. He was immediately killed by a fragment of the bomb, and the woman was severely injured. At this point also an old man, who was walking on the pavement, had his arm blown off and died in hospital shortly afterwards." ® ® Protection of National Treasures. A QUESTION was put in the House of Commons as to whether the Government had been in communication with the authorities of Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, National Gallery, British Museum, and other buildings, &c, of national importance. Mr. Asquith in a written reply stated " it would be manifestly impossible to take steps which would afford complete protection against enemy aircraft to individual buildings such as those named, but the Office of Works has taken steps in consultation with the trustees of museums to give some measure of protection, as also to some of the large public buildings. It is hoped, however, that the service pre sided over by Sir Percy Scott will deal effectively with any further attempts at indiscriminate destruction of property. I do not think that any useful purpose would be served by the setting up of a committee such as suggested in the question." R. F. C. and Reprisals. IN the Commons on Wednesday Mr. Tennant, replying to Mr. Joynson-Hicks, said that the policy of reprisals was always one open to controversy. The Royal Flying Corps was a military organisation, and was engaged on military operations. Dastardly raids by the enemy on undefended towns and defenceless people should not be allowed to divert the energies of this fighting force from its primary military duties. Air Raid Reprisals and a separate Air Service. A LARGELY attended meeting, organised by the Globe news paper, was held at the Cannon Street Hotel, on the 14th inst., " to urge upon the Government a declared policy of air reprisals for Zeppelin raids on London and other open cities." Lord Willoughby de Broke presided, and the speakers included Mr. Joynson-Hicks, M.P., Mr. E. Jardine, M.P., Mr. Charles Palmer, and Sir George Makgill. Two resolutions were passed, one demanding a formal Government announcement of a systematic policy of reprisal raids on German cities, and the other urging the formation of a separate Air Ministry working on lines similar to that of the Admiralty.
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