MOCK WAR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 27 July 1927, Page 7

MOCK WAR

LONDON ATTACKED FROM THE AIR

SERIES OP DARING RAIDS

VALUABLE LESSONS LEARNT

(Bv Electric Telegraph-Copyright) (Australian & N.Z. Gable Association)

LONDON, 25th duly

The mock war has already provided valuable lessons. The enemy made a series of most daring raids from the east and south in a continuous attempt to break the defence. A cordon of !ow clouds aided the. attackers, but all five raids were quickly detected, llianils to the small lighting planes. Within ten minutes of the first appearance of each of the live raids the direction was traced out and met by superior forces of defending planes. 11 is not yet known what casualties the raiding bombers experienced, but poor visibility enabled them to score some success upon the targets, which were the Duke of York's School, Chelsea, and the stores depot at Kidbrooke. 'I he enemy scored at least one direct hit on the Duke of York's School from 15,000 feet, the results being registered by camera obscura methods. The defence included an artillery barrage as well as squadrons of aeroplanes working the inner zone. The. defence was conducted from a maplines room of which the whereabouts was a profound secret, and from which orders were flashed by wireless. As the position of each attacker was noted a black disc was placed on the map showing the height and direction in moving.

ENEMY C'ASUALTIES

No attacking squadron reached its objective without several casualties. In one case a squadron crossed ihe coast at Havant at 8.14. attacked the Chelsea area at 9.30 and at 10.5 the umpire noticed that the machines were only 300 yards from the Chelsea target. Despite the fact that the attack was obscured by low clouds the patrol squadron failed to intercept, so this raid was an enemy success. Another raid from Shoeburyness at 8 o'clock failed owing to> low clouds. Remembering the speed of modern aircraft which travels a mile, while the shell from an archie is climbing to him, it is difficult to see why any raid should fail. A squadron which crossed the coast at Bognor at midday attacked Chelsea at one o'clock, inflicting severe casualties on the defending aircraft and ottiers. The attackers were beaten off in the. afternoon.

A squadron at 3 o'clock bombed Che! sea from 15,000 feel, the patrol search ing for two hours without making con tact.

The raiders of each bombing force were accompanied by a. photographer, whoso pictures will be. built up on a mosaic map. In addition, each machine took photographs as it dropped bombs. The photos will be used to test the accuracy of the work.

Bad weather defeated night raids. The defence fighters were in readiness from 10 o'clock to set out at a moment's notice against the enemy, who were reported to have crossed the coast before 11.30. The raiders, however, encounter, ed low clouds and a drizzle forced them to give up before approaching the capital and they returned without the home defence forces taking the air.

SEVERAL RAIDS SUCCESSFUL

LONDON, 25th Julv

Later reports indicate that there were eight raids during the day and of these several reached their objectives without being intercepted in the morning, necessitating a rearrangement of the plans of defence.

.MARRED BY TRAGEDY

The manoeuvres were marred 'by a tragedy at Northoft aerodrome. When the seventeenth squadron was returning Flying Officer" Anderson collided with the next machine, crashed, and was burnt to death in sight of hundreds who were unable to approach the blazing machine. The other pilot managed to land safely.