In the Air

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2, 31 August 1915, Page 5

In the Air

ALLIES ATTACK IN THE WEST. [United Press Association.] Paris, August 30. Sixty of the Allies' aeroplanes bombarded Houthulet forest on August 26, with excellent results. The forest was n vast military cam]), and portion of it had been converted into a veritable town; with barracks Full of troops, munition depots, and camps electrically lit. When the aeroplanes were sighted the lights were extinguished, and anti-air craft guns were used, but ineffectually, the moonlight rendering searchlights useless. Many 'of the aeroplanes made several journeys to replenish their supplies of ex- ' plosives. whereof four tons were | thrown on to the barracks and depots. Tiler* were several explosions, and great panic was noticed.

A DUEL OVER SENLIS.

Paris, August 30

The fight at Senlis with a German '[ aviator was short and swift. Captain Brbcard headed off the German over a wood, 'and succeeded in getting exactly ojver him at sixty feet distance. A. mar!hine-gun quickly did its work, and the aviator ablaze, fell. The pilot and observer were frightfully burned, and were probably dead before the fall. ! MEAGRE REPORTS EXPLAINED. London. August 4 29. Mr Balfour has replied to a correspondent who asked why the English reports of German air raids are meagre, while the Cerman narratives of the same events are rich in lurid detail. The correspondent points out that tbe German narratives are widely believed by neutrals, while the reticence of the censored British press suggests a suspicion that unpleasant truth is ljidden .from' the nervous public. ■ fi tsfx Balfour quotes the Admiralty's air J ft'H 1 *?Aw on August 10, antl compares the story in the Deutsche "Our naval airships carried out attacks on the 1 . f a mM feill of thie east coast of and despite sjreriuoiu•'opposition ,bpmbed the UCJthe Tjia^fs the'London gMft wich, and j t the Humbej u^o^^cfq r t s were observed. The airships returned sately from tnen successful undertaking." The report referred to was as follows:—Official.— German airships killed thirteen and wounded thirteen'on the East Coast last night. One Zeppelin 'was destroyed. FL'gtil 'Sub-Lieu-tenant Xoed! pu.e f o/' who wa s { landing in the dark." 'Mr Balfour •commented that if one stoijy • was \rue the other was* f&W, why] not explain the discrepancy and tell! the world wherein the. Germans had ■distorted facts. fhe reasou was simple. The Zeppelinsjjattaek at night time, preferably is not a moon, when landmarks are elusive and .navigation difficult. J Thus errors are inevitable sometimes'. The Germans constantly assert and may sometimes believe, they dropped bombs oil places they never approached. Why make their future voyages easier by. explaining blunders, since their errors are our gain? Why dissipate them? Let us learn what we can from the enemy, and teach him only what we must. This reticence is therefore judicious. It may still be asked whether reticence is not merely used to emharass Germans, and also to unduly reassure the British. What have Zepeplins done;, how ought we to rate them as Weapons of attack. What can they do? 1 cannot prophesy the future of a' method of warfare that is still in its infancy,, but can say something of the pjist result,., It is unhappily certain that it,;ha s caused much suffering to many innocents, but even this result, with, all its tragedy, has been magnified [out of all proportion by ill-in-forinied rumor. The Home Office states that! during the past year seventy-one civilian . adults and eighteen children were) killed, 189 civilian adults and thirty-one children injured. Judged by numbers, the cumulative result of the many successive crimes are not equal to the single effort of the Lusitania, when a submarine, to the unconcealed pride of Germany; and to the horror of the rest of the world, sent 1108 unoffending civilians to the bottom. Yet the result is bad enough, and we may well ask what military advantage has been gained at the cost of so much innocent blood. No soldier or (jailor was killed, and but seven wounded. Only once was da.n.mge.iiLflicted which, by any stretch of language, could be described as of the smallest military importance. The Zeppelin raids had been brutal, but so far had not been effective, and had served no hostile purpose, moral or (material.