A Year's Zeppelin Raids

Horowhenua Chronicle, 3 November 1915, Page 2

A Year's Zeppelin Raids

All!/ BALEOUit'S DEFENCE OF CENSOR. The First Lord of the Admiralty has addressed the following letter to a correspondent:— Admiralty, S.W., 28th August, 11113. Dear, sir,—You ask me wliy the accounts published hi this country of enemy air raids are so meagre -while Iho German narratives ot the same events are rich in Lurid detail. You point out that while these narratives are believed in neutral countries, the reticence of the censored British press suggests a suspicion that unpleasant truths are being deliberately hid from a nervous public. Com nare the following accounts wliifh, though the historian would never guess it, relate to the same airship raid :— Translation. Headline <;f Dental 0 ''"ago-wil-iing. August "M. IUIS. All! ATTACK OX TIIK DOCKS OK LO'N'DCX.' "On tin? night oi the Utli-10th of August our naval airships carried out attacks upon fortified coast towns and. harbours on the East Coast of England. u ln spite of strenuous opposition bombs were dropped on British warships in the Thames, on the docks of Loudon, on the torpedo craft base at Harwich, and on important positions on the, Hiimber. ''Good results wave observed. "The airships returned safely from their successful undertaking." August 10, IUI3. Tlhe Secretary of the Admiralty makes the following statement:— "A squadron of hostile airships visited the East Coast last niglit and this morning between the bonis of 8.30 and 12.30 a.m. "Some (ires were caused by the dropping of incendiary bombs, but These were (prickly extinguished and only immaterial damage was done." The following casualties have been i eportod :-- "One man, eight women and four children killed, four men. eight wo- ; ion and two children wounded. "One Zeppelin was: seriously damaged by the gun lire of the land defences and was reported this morning being lowed into Ostoml. Site lias since boon .subjected to continual attacks by aircraft from Dunkirk under heavy fire, and it is now reported that after having had her back broken and rear compartments damaged she was completely destroyed by an explosion." Now it is plain that if one of these stories is true the other is lalse. Why not tlien explain the discrepancy, and tell the world in detail wherein the German account distorts from facts? The reason is quite simple. Zeppelins a I tack under cover of night and (by preference) of moonless niglit. In sue!) conditions landmarks are elusive and navigation difficult. Errors are irfevi table, and .sometimes ot surprising magnitude. The Germans constantly assert, and may .sometimes believe. that they dropped bombs on places •which in fact they never approached. AN" 11y make their future voyages easie* by telling them where they have hlua« doled in the past? Since the errors are our gain, why dissipate them? Let u : learn what we can from the enemy, let us teach him only what we must. Nobody will, T think, be disposed to doubt that this reticence is judicious. But the question may still be asked whether it is used not merely to embarras the Germans, but unduly to reassure the British? How ought we to rate the Zeppelins 'weapons of attack? What have they doneP What can they do? To this last question 1 do not offer a reply. J cannot prophesy about the future of a method of warfare which is still in its infancy. J can. however, say something of its results in tlio past. That it has caused much suffering to many innocent people is unhappily certain. But even this result with all its tragedy has been magnified out of all proportion by ill-informed rumour. 1 am assured by the Home Office that during the last twelve months 71 civilian adults and 18 children have been killed. 18!) civilian adults and 31. children have boon'wounded. Judged by numbers this cumulative ircsult ot many successive crftfiex does not equal the single effort of the submarine, which to the unconcealed pride of Germany and the horror of all the world sent 1108 unoffending civilians to the bottom in the Lusitania. Yet it is bad enough, and we may well ask what military advantage has been gained at the cost of so much innocent blood. The answer is easily given. No soldier or sailor has been killed, seven have been wounded, and only on one occasion has damage been ifrTctcd which could be any stretch of language be described as of the smallest military importance. Zeppelin raids Tiave lieen brutal, but so far they have not been effective. They have served no hostile purpose, moral or material.--Yours faithfully (signed). AKTIII.'II .JAMES BAT.KOTTR. 4^