THE GREAT AIR MID

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17104, 8 September 1917, Page 10

THE GREAT AIR MID

LONDON AMAZED.

NO SIGN OF PANIC

(From Oun Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, July 10. If tho superlative headings of our half penny press, which Insist in speaking only in superlatives, give the Germans the impression that they created a panic in London on Saturday, then they are pleasing th« Germans but are far from stating the truth. There was no sign of panic whatever. Tho sight of more than 20 huge black planes circling over tho city in perfect formation aDd apparently at lcisuro filled London with amazement. People could not believ<> that they wero really German, though in point of fact they wero as different from oxir own planes as rooks from large dragon flics. When they did realise it, and read tho bill of losses" their amazement changed to something moro like anger than tho British public is accustomed to show. The Zeppelin danger lias almost completely coasod to exist, for a reason which tho public thoroughly understands. Thufc is to say, tho British authorities have do voloped a counter-weapon which is _so deadly that it is scarcely likely Zeppelins can ever invade England to any depth and get away without very severe losses. Now it is tho turn of tho aeropLa.no. and for tho moment it holds tho field as tho Zeppelin did until a year ago. But it is infinitely moro difficult to counter.

Tho procedure in aeroplane attacks on England is for tho Huns to rise from aerodromes anywhere in tho occupied territory of Belgium and steer straight out northward into the North Sea. There the.y can make practically tho whole journey to tho English coast free of observation bv any of our stations, either here or on the Channel coast of Flanders, and. the first authentic news is of their arrival over our coast defences in Essex or Kent, which they reach direct from seaward. It is practically impossible to institute a perpetual patrol In the air off the coast, and planes which we put up from the coast stations when the invadprs are first sighted have no hopo of reaching an altitude to attack them before they are practically in London.

AN HOUR'S WARNING.

What happened on Saturday was that tho Hun planes were reported an hour before they reached London. Coming in in two formations —one over the Kentish and the other over the Essex coast—they converged over the Thames after doing some damage in the isle of Thanet, and approached tho city from the north-east On reaching the outskirts they veered to the north and then to the west, and then crossed London, from north-west to south-east.

It is quite untrue that they were- unopposed. British planes in considerable numbers were over London at a great height an hour earlier —as scon as the warning was given—and by the time the invaders were first visible from the city they had already been joined by a considerable number of our own machines, who hung oil to them throughout aud endeavoured to get on terms with them. Seen from tho city, the Hun planes looked exactly like a great flight of wild duck or geese, flying in Lhe well-known formation—two leading and the rest tailing off in arrow fashion. The two flights kept this formation almost throughout, and they ssnemed to observers to bo flying remarkably low. This we knew now to bo a falso impression. They were, in fact, very large planes, of the new Gotha type, which measures more than 70ft from tip to tip of 'the wings. The upper plane 'is a sort of compound, giving tho plane the appearance of being always in a climbing posture, so that tho observer can always see the flat of the wings. They look extremely like rooks flying with wings stationary, and, 'painted black, they have the same forbidding appearance as those birds.

Without glasses it was difficult to distinguish the British from the Hun machines, though tho latter are said to have been flying at a height of about 13,09ftft. Tho extraordinary size deceived onlookers as to the height, and nine people out of ten comforted themselves with the thought that they must bo British, as they were flyinor so low. This .comfortable feeling, however, was soon dispelled when the anti-aircraft guns from all the batteries within a radius opened fire, and the sky all about their track was dotted with tho white puffs of shrapnel, and with sundry other black puffn of grr>at density. Simultaneously, periodic, dull, heavy explosions rent the sending for a distance of a mile or more tho concussion which wo now all know so well to be that of 'bursting bombs. That was the first signal -which the public was permitted to roooive. and in the circumstances it behaved remarkably well There wag so little panic thnt the emptying- of the car in which I was 'travelling was quite imperceptible to me. Twice just overhead the hostile formations seemrd to jumblo up, some of the machines banldng very steeplv, and then they sorted themselves out beautifully on another a-ngle of flight. Our own machines all the time hung close to their quarry, and, as far a-8 could be judged from below, they took quito as great risks as the latter from the bursting of our shells. The Hwns paid good attention to the City of London, though it is apparent from their own communique that they did not quito distinguish one bridgo from, another, and making one of their wheete over Southwarlc they set off towards the eastward. This was, however, only a blind, for in a minute or two they wheeled again and passed southward towards tho Crystal Palace and thenoe out of the London area. The spectacle was a most thrilling- one, in spite of its deadline®. During most of tho passage across the city there were 40 planes engaged, and the battle already joined by our airmen continued without cessation until the enemy crossed the coastline again. One of them, was brought down in oomirar to London, but the whole of the invaders with this exception got out of 'Ens-land. TVro, howevw. thev wore met !by the machines of the R.N.A.S., who ■had been put up from many different stations to intercept tho raiders on then- return a.nd to deal vrth th«» nrotecf.insr squadrons which the Germans had organised to assist them in making good their return home. THE DAMAGE AND LOSS. It is officially announced that the enemy consisted of 22 machines of the Gotha type, each carrying BSOlb of explosive boTttbe. The daanago to property was fairy extensive, but from a military point of view not important, and tho loss of life was remarkablv small considering the force employed and the apparent immunity with which they carried out their work. The casualties wero 34 killed and 139 wounded, or only about a third of those inflicted in the raid by a few machines a month or eo back. Tho principal reason for tho lightness ot the loss of life is said to be the alacrity with which the public, warned by what oe curred last time, took cover when the guns began to play. In large towns tho chief danger, apart from the actual fall of tho bombs, lies in tho falling fragments of shell. Though fatal on the unprotected body, they aro easily diverted or stopped by even ono roof; hence the urgency of the oitHal advice to people to get off the streets and cret cover of some kind. As for tho bombs themselves, they were no less violent than 'on former occasions. But here again the -hort warning which some favoured institutions received saved a good number of lives. Mr Cave, whilo protesting in tho true official fashion that warnings would do more harm than good, admits that though a bomb fell square on a building which contained some hundreds of workpeople nobody was failed and only two men were injured by falling riass. They had had warning some tune before, and all had gone to tho lower floor, where they had the protection of a concrete roof. PUBLIC INDIGNATION. There was some amount of indignation after the raid owing to the general bol'ef that the raiders had got off unmolested and without loss. The raid occurred at 10.30 on Saturday morning. Yet the morning papers on Monday, printed at least 36 hours later, contained no adequate statement at all of tho enemy's losses. The report of the land command of the air service merely stated that "one of tho enemy machines was brought down by the Royal Flying Corps." The sea command, which had probably more to do with the punishment of the intruders, said that "two machines were observed to crash into the sea, and a third to fall in flames off the mouth of the Scheldt." The vioe-admiral at Dover, in a later report which may or may not have been included in that of the Admiralty, reported that ''three enemy seaplanes were encountered and destroyed, one driven down into the. sea and another driven down," and that in a later sally ono seaplanes wae brought down in flames and another forced to descend near Ostend. For two days the HanKsworth press shrieked about the complete failure of the air defence. It was not until Monday afternoon that Mr Lloyd Georg" stated dearly, in popular language, that throe of tho raiders were destroyed, as well as six machines of tho protecting squadron, whilo another of the latter .vjuv injured. THE CRY FOF. REPRISALS. The raid has naturally revive*} the cry for reprisals against Germany. A yr-at ago this would have had moro urwsning- ■& , »n it has to-day. The ethical of nprisala

has been decided long sinoe by the British people in the sense that they see no good i>l them, and candidly disapprove of thorn. This is the attitude of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has been much pained by tho receipt of letters from perfectly decent people who do not even wish to hide their identity, clamouring for our authorities to hit back. " This betokens a growth, a spirit, which I believe would have been impossible a little time ago." Twice England has ventured on reprisals as a matter of policy, and twise she has recoiled from the first experience, almost 'apologetically, feeling that whatever tho German does in the way of frightfulness we aro holding up the light of something else and should not follow. But apart altogether from the academic question, people who know anything know that more and more the military war is invading the civil realm, and that whether we made a special reprisal attack on a German town or not. we are daily engaged in acts of legitimate war over the German lines which, whether we like it or not, must inevitably inflict death and punishment on innocent civilians. Only two days ago a great French bombing expedition visited Treves, Coblonz, Essen, and Ludwigshavon. It was done by the French because, as Mr Lloyd Goorge says, they are nearer to the German towns than wo are. But wo are not disapproving of tho policy. Like the use of poison gas, wo have adopted it ourselves because' it was essential that from a nrlitary standpoint we should uso the same weapons as the enemy, who ignored all appeal to his better instincts. Lord Montagu of Bcaulieu said quite plainly tho other day that wo cannot very well claim that London or any _ other town to-day is not fair game for air bombardment, since the war activ : ties of the country nr" now so indissolubly bound up with the civil. Munition factories have perforce been erooted where the workpeople lived. Tho people of London themselves have long since nea-ed to complain of air bombardments. They know they must accept them as part of tho fortune of war. All they ask generally is to be given warning when possible, so as to give them a chance j of getting in out of the wet.