LONDON'S DARKEST HOUR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1039, 11 June 1924, Page 12

LONDON'S DARKEST HOUR.

ZEPPELIN RAID WHICH FAILED. "AN ANGUISH OF ANXIETY.'' The most remarkable part of Commander Rawlinson's book. "The Defence of London, 1915-1918," is the account of the last Zeppelin raid on the night .of October 19, 1917. when the metropolis was completely at the mercy, of seven or nine airships, and so narrowly escaped a very great disaster. Those in charge of the defence of the city that night were aware that this fleet hud been built to fly at altitudes which could no be reached by aeroplanes, and thut the undersides .of the airships had been coated with a certain black paint which rendered them invisible from the glare of a searchlight, even when full in its beam. It was obviously the intention of the enemy to assemble at Watford and to "float down wind"' over London at a high altitude with engines stopped. The entire Zeppelin fleet, unknowingly, was over the heart of London. The sii.gle bomb dropped in Piccadilly Circus, which damaged the premises of Messrs Swan and Edgar, was discharged with the object of inducing the searchlights to uncover, but an order had been issued that they should remain masked, and this undoubtedly saved London: Mercifully the darkness and silence below still remained impenetrable and unbroken. The succeeding minutes were charged with such an anguish of anxiety, and the horror of the awful tragedy which appeared likely to bo enacted at any moment was so great as to cuuse me an absolute spasm of nervous agony. A north-easterly wind increasing to a gale sent the fleet away. With regard to the future defence of cities against air attack the author says that efficiency can only be attained by unity of control.