London Air Defences

Levin Daily Chronicle, 9 July 1918, Page 4

London Air Defences

—,— j There is a man in London to-day with a never-ending duty, and upon, his broad shoulders rests the responsibility of the safety of the lives of 15 million people. At any instant night or day he must bo ready to act. The safoty of the people depends upon the quickI ness of his action.. He is Major-General Ed \v;u'd Bailey Ashmorc, C.8., M.V.0., C.M.G., chief of the London Air Defences. By training he is gunner and i airman too. In a barely furnished office thi? tall, blue-eyed soldier, with a calm, determined face —an autocrat of the old Army school in dross and speech —plans against the coming of the Gormans. Day and night he is never away i from the telephone which links him up j with the cordon of defences he has so I cunningly drawn. It takes but a few ! short minutes for a Gotha to approach i London from the mists of the North ! Sea, and during a raid General Ashmoro ; takes sole charge of the chess-board of i the defences. While the guns are booming ho is "somewhere in the operating room," closely following 011 his maps | tlie course of the raiders. General Aslimoro carries his 4G years lightly. Ho has seen service with the guns in South Africa, where he was severely wounded, and he went to Prance with the R.F.C. at the outbreak of war. There is no trace of war-weariness in his alert figure. The morning after a trying night raid finds him at his offiec ready for a fast drive-of inspection around the defences long before most jjoople have . read the official communique. He knows J all his guns and all his gunners, and he ! talks with affectionate pride of his 1 night fliers who have "reached the , highest attainments in airmanship." ' With every word he lets fall General Ashmoro unconsciously shows his supremo confidence in the ability of British airmen and guns to boat, the raiders. I __