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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0120.PDF
\fiML a result, I did what I ought to have done in the first place. I had a sheet of glass put in the window, so pre venting any further nocturnal visits. A day or two later the domestic solved the problem, in her own way, by surreptiously dropping a brick from her bedroom window on to the sleeping feline. I shall never forget what I owe to that girl for the masterly way she dealt with the matter. Somewhat analogous, it seems to me, judging by the multitude of elaborate devices set forth in the lay press recently, are the visits of Zeppelins to these shores, and methods of dealing with them. From the idea of huge funnels made of wire-netting to collect the bpmbs and guide them to safe quarters in the Thames, or other large stretches of water, to having a circle of balloons carrying ® ® THE "X" AIR IN view of the decision of the Government not to allow details of aircraft raids to be published, we are, as before, giving to each one an index number. Eventually, when details are available, we shall give the respective information under these index numbers, which will facilitate easy reference to each particular raid. The following announcements have been officially issued :— "X17" Raid. "War Office, 11.25p.m., Feb. 2nd. " The utterly inaccurate report in the Berlin official telegram of February is', which purported to describe the effects of the German air raid on the night of lanuary 31st, afford-; a further proof that the raiders were quite unable to ascertain their position or shape their course with any degree 1 f certainly. " Casualties,—A number of cases of injury, mostly slight, have been reported since the previous figures were issued, and there have been two or three more deaths. The figures now stand as follows :— FEBRUARY 10, 1916. contact mines all around London, they are all elaborate, entirely unworkable, exceedingly silly. I know from experience that letting the cat get into my studio before I commenced operations was quite the stupidest way I could possibly have gone about it, especially in view of the fact that a simple pane of glass on the coast, as it were, would have prevented the nuisance. I have not the address of that domestic now, nor any data to go upon as to whether she has changed her occu pation, but even allowing the impeachment to be true that some of her sex sit in Parliament, I am quite sure she is not there. Were it so, I am certain her womanly instinct would tell her that it were better to kill cats of the Zeppelin breed, afield. ® ® CRAFT RAID. Men Women Children Killed. ••• 33 20 6 Injured. 51 48 2 Total 84 68 8 Total 59 101 160 "Giant bombs used by the British air-fleet." A drawing and descripion as they appear in the " Scientific American " (New York). " Damage.—One church and a Congregational chapel were badly damaged, and a parish room wrecked. Founeen houses were demolished, and a great number damaged less seriously by doors, window irames, &c., being blown out. Some damage, not very ssrious, was caused to railway property in two places; only two factories, neither being of military importance, and a brewery were badly damaged, and two or three oiber factories were damaged slighily. " Bombs Dropped.—The total number of bombs discovered up to the present exceeds 300. Many of them fell in rural places, where no damage was caused at all " "Press Bureau, Feb. $th. " With respect to the official German statements relating to the recent raid in England, the War Office announces that the damage to industrial or commercial establishments was as follows:— "Serious damage was done to three breweries, three railway- sheds, one engine shed, one tube factory, one lamp factory, and one blacksmith's shop. " Minor damage, such as the shattering of glass and doors, occurred at a munition factory, at ironworks, in two places, a crane factory, a harness factory, a railway grain shed, a colliery, and a pumping station. " No docks, no granaries, munition factories, or industrial establishments of any sort other than thoae mentioned were damaged. " Some fifteen houses of working-class people were demolished, and a large number of small shops and dwelling-houses were injured, some seriously and n any slightly. " The latest returns of casualties show that 26 men, 28 women, and seven children were killed, and 48 men, 46 women, and seven children were injured. " It is not proposed in future to issue detailed statements of this character, as it is inadvisable to give information to the enemy as to the re? ults of their air attack'. On the occasion of this raid, how ever, in which the largest number, so far, of airshipj have been employed, this statement of the damage done is given in order to show how unfounded is the claim that the economic life of Great Britain, or its military preparations, can be appreciably affected by promiscuous bomb-dropping from airships wandering over the country in the dark. " In the twenty-nine raids—great and small—that have taken place over Great Britain since the war began 133 men (of whom 17 were soldiers), 90 women, and 43 children have been killed. But when it is remembered that in the ' Lusitania' alone 1,198 persons were drowned, the Zeppelin raids, as a means of murdering innocent civilians, must be comparatively disappointing to their promoters." "Admiralty, Feb. 7th. " In the German Wireless message to-day the Kolnische Zeitung reports that from the Dutch frontier it has received information that on the occasion of the recent air raid to this country His Majesty's ship ' Caroline ' was struck by a bomb, in the Humber, and sunk, with great loss of life. " Neither His Majesty's ship ' Caroline ' nor any other of His Majesty's ships, nor any merchant ship, large or small, was struck by a bomb, in the Humber, nor in any other port." I20
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