AERIAL SUPREMACY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3352, 12 June 1918, Page 18

AERIAL SUPREMACY.

SOME HEAVY FIGHTING. Sir Douglas Haig's aviation report states: Our aeroplanes dropped 18 tons of bombs and heavily macbine-gunned a great variety of targets. We dropped eight tons of bombs on the night of the 3rd on Le Cateau, St. Quentin, and Valenciennes raihvay stations. All our night-flyers returned. , There was air activity on the 3rd. Our night fliers dropped 18 tons of bombs, chiefly on railway stations at St. Quentin, Douai, and Luxemberg. We brought down three and drove down one enemy machine. No British planes are missing. On Tuesday we brought down one and drove down one. We dropped 14 tons of bombs during the day and night. There were no British losses. We dropped 20 tons of bombs on the sth inst. on targets, including dumps, railways, and billets; also on the Armentieres and Roye railway stations and the Zeebrugge seaplane base. Our long-distance day bombers heavily attacked the railway station and barracks at Treves (?), the railway station at Metz-Sa'oV-n-s and railways at Kaarthaun. All returned. We brought down seven hostile machines and drove down three during the day. Four British machines are missing. Our night bombers dropped 13 tons of bombs on St. Quentin, Busigny, Cambrai, and Armentieres railway stations. All returned. Our long-distance bombers the same night dropped 5 tons of bombs Avith good results on the Metz-Sablons railway station and the Thionville railway sidings. We on the morning of the 6th heavily attacked the Coblentz railway station, and good burst were observed on the line. All our machines returned. We brought down 23 aeroplanes, and dropped 39 tons of bombs on objectives, including Valenciennes, Le Cateau, Busigny, and St. Quentin. We dropped 23 tons of bombs on railway junctions, aerodromes, and dumps beyond the German lines on the Bth. A French communique states : During June 1« and 2 29 German aeroplanes were brought down, and 130 tons of explosives were dropped by our airmen on enemy dumps, convoys, and troops. Our airmen dropped 17 tons of projectiles on concen-

fcrations of troops, whom they dispersed. They also dropped 14 tons of bomb 6 on various railway stations. Nineteen enemy aeroplanes were brought clown on the sth inst. Twenty-five tons of explosives were dropped at night in the enemy zone. During the 7th 13 aeroplanes -were brought down. Twenty-seven tons of bombs were dropped in the regions of Roye, St. Questin, and Soissons, with good results. British Italian official : Since May 25 v. - e have destroyed 14 enemy aeroplanes. An Italian official report Bays : Our

aeroplanes dropped five tons of bombs on military objectives. Our airships and aeroplanes bombarded railway stations and aviation camps of the enemy at Huttenti, and also machine-gunned moving troops and exploded large ammunition'dumps at Nattarello. Five enemy machines were brought down. A German official reports says: Wa brought down 46 aeroplanes between tho 4th and sth June. Statements are made in reliable quarters that British aircraft during May brought down 698 German aeroplanes and

drove down 100 others, while our guns brought down 20. In the same period 128 British machines are missing. Mr Robinson writes: The effects of the Allied air raids on the battle-front are so immense that the enemy troops are taking elaborate precautions to avoid observation. They are marching in small formations, which are ordered to break up and scatter when warned. The Kaiser has decorated Captain Koehl, who has participated in many air raids on London and Paris. H. Roberts, Minister of Labour, speaking at a demonstration of girls at Sheffield, announced: "We are going to have women aviators. They will make good aviators." Mr Roberts explains that there is no intention to introduce women aviators in war time. Women's proved adaptability mado it certain, however, that they would become pilots after the war. WORK OF NAVAL AIRCRAFT. The British Admiralty reports: Between Thursday and Sunday our naval aircraft carried: out night and day raids at.Bruges docks, Zeebrugge, and; Ostend. Several tons of heavy bombs were dropped on the objectives, with good results. Photographs confirm the great damage to the large engineering works at Bruges. Three of our machines are missing in the meanwhile. Our aircraft sighted and attacked a submarine and located several enemy mines during patrols in the North Sea. They also sighted a Zeppelin, but our seaplanes were unable to overtake and engage it effectively. One seaplane is missing. Eight bombing raids were carried out between the 2nd and' the sth inst. at Zeebrugge, Ostend, Bruges and the'Thorout railway station. Large quantities of heavy bombs were dropped. We destroyed two enemy machines and drove, down three. British machine is missing. A squadron of large seaplanes made a long reconnaissance over the North Sea. It engaged a large hostile formation, and shot down two enemy machines! Two of ours when returning were forced to alight, owing to engine trouble, close to the Dutch coast, and were interned. Five British aeroplanes fought seven Germans over the North Sea. The Germans retired, losing one machine, which fell into the sea in flames. The crewwere rescued by their comrades. Two British machines were shot down. One landed at Vlieland and the other on the mainland, and their crews have been interned. THE MASTERY OF THE AIR. Reuter's correspondent at the French Headquarters, writing on the evening of Juno 5, says: During the first portion of a, 2,4 hours' battle the Germans had the mastery in the air between the Aisne and tho Marne. Their triumph was shortlived. As the attack opened out on Monday a powerful aviation group, including some, of the best-known French aviators, started for the Aishe via the German Oise front, causing damage en. route. The group took the air again on Tuesday morn.ing, engaging the German airmen, and descended within 20ft of the ground in order to attack the troops and convoys. On-Wednesday our supremacy in tho air •was definitely re-established, and since then has been hardly challenged. The French squadrons carried out systematic attacks at short intervals on the German concentrations at such places as Fisrnes, 12 miles behind their front. Tens of explosives were dropped on the German camps and communications. It is remarkable the number of enemy balloons that have been destroyed lately. These the Germans used in their front line in order to compensate for their inferiority in the air service. They haul them down with remarkable quickness on the appearance of a French aeroplane. Bava's Agency states that the latest giant German aeroplane brought down carried a crew of nine specialists. It also had four motor engines, each of 300 horsepower. It was 43 metres across the.wings, and 28 metres in length; its weight when empty avus 9200 kilogrammes and when loaded 14,6C0 kilogrammes,; its maximum speed was 130 kilometres per hour, and its armament four machine guns. ATTEMPTED RAID ON PARIS. Official: Twenty enemy aeroplanes were reported coming to Paris at 11 p.m. on the 6th. They encountered a terrific barrage. Some bombs were dropped, and it is reported that one person was killed and a number injured. "All clear" was signalled at 0.20 this morning. HUNS BOMB HOSPITAL. Mr Robinson reports that the German airmen on the Ist bombed further hospitals, including one containing 1600 patients. Eleven girls belonging to the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, who were wounded during the bombing of a hospital in France, have arrived at a London hospital. When the raid commenced the girls were in the midst of a dance given by the Australian Hospital sisters. The lights suddenly went out, then bombs fell, and everyone was soon waltzing to another tune.* No Aastraliaa nurses were wounded. HOW TO WIN THE WAR. . The Daily Express's Amsterdam correspondent reports that a prominent Dutch industrial magnate, who has just returned from Germany, says : " If you want to end the war quickly, bomb German towns; bomb them to a standstill. The Allied airmen have caused an extraordinary panic along tho Rhine. The whole Rhine area knows the misery of sleepless nights, leading in many cases to insanity. Many people are' leaving the towns, and the authorities have already refused to grant passports unless children are concerned." THE GERMANS' BAD FAITH. The Osservatore Romano has officially

published the Corpus Christi correspondence, including Herr Hartmann's request and the British compliance; also Cardinal Amette's protest against the shelling of Paris. Cardinal Gaspari's despatch to Herr Hartmann deplored the bombing of Cologne, but there is no reference in any of the documents to any Vatican protest against the shelling of Paris, though Vatican circles state that the Pope did protest. Mr Bonar Law, in the House of Commons, stated that the German shelling of Paris would not be forgotten if another appeal similar to that from Cologne were made. The Government had drawn the Vatican's attention to the incident.

Mr Bonar Law added : Cologne's immunity was granted after consultation with the French Government.