The Wanganui Herald. (Published Daily.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1916. THE WAR OF TERROR.

Wanganui Herald, Volume L, Issue 15026, 25 September 1916, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. (Published Daily.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1916. THE WAR OF TERROR.

Ik pursuance of its policy to attempt to umquer the world by terror, another Zeppelin raid has been made on England; but, as was emphasised by the New York Tribune in a report which was published in Saturday’s issue, so far from having a terrorising influence such actions only tend to rouse the Allies lo more determined efforts.. The raids, certainly, make everybody uneasy, ineluding dwellers in remote and peaceable v illages, uneasy for themselves, for their wives, and for their children. ‘[he people of the Old Land, particularly in the eastern counties, ran never feci ceitain that any night a bomb may not drop on their houses out of the sky and blow them to pieces. This general feeling of insecurity is tremendously magnified by the’German Press, which seeks to keep the waning war spirit fanned b/ fantastic stories of tremendous damage done in Britain to munition factories, railways, and military centres generally, and of the terrible effects produced on the British mind. The capture of a Zeppelin and the destruction of another may tend to modify the German view. Not that the raids wil! cease, or even diminish in frequency. because one airship has been caught and another burned, though it is clear that the raiders can no longer feel that they can go and come as they please, drop, bombs where they like, and get away unscathed. And if one can be brought down in flames and another captured, there is a chance of punishing them so badly that they may find the game not worth the candle. So long as the raids continue there is always the chance that a lucky shot, from the Germans’ point of view, might cause a serious disaster. The Zeppelin captured on Saturday had a crew of 23, so that it was a fairly large vessel. When Mr. George Pfade, the writer on aeronautics, inspected the Zeppelin which was captured at Ecvigny after the last raid on Paris, he estimated the full crew at 23. The airship which he inspected carried 30001b of explosive in the shape of 20 projectiles, each provided with a special dropping apparatus released by an electric current on pressing a push-button. The cradle carried six machine-guns, but no cannon. The propellers were of aluminium toughened with a slight alloy of zinc and copper. We shall probably be enlightened in a few days concerning the secrets of the Zeppelin brought down in Essex-, which may possibly reveal the state of the metal market in Germany. Of the thirty odd aerial raids, great and small, which have been made over England, a large proportion have been made by Zep*. pelins, and though some, have been lost before, up to Saturday night none had been captured intact. It has been felt for some time past in Britain that there must be something seriously wrong with the aerial defences, as no doubt there probably was (though recent results prove there has been a great advance in anti-aircraft defence), and this very immunity was an encouragement to the raiders to come again, and to come in greater numbers and more frequently.

From the strictly military point of view the raids have been very nearly futile. Of thirty raids previously carried out, with a great expenditure of bombs, only about 150 deaths were recorded, of which all but 20 were civilians, he majority of them women and children. There is no doubt considerable damage has been done to property, though the Government very wisely declines to act as scorer for the enemy and tell him the results of his shots. Compared with the stupendous losses being inflicted on the Germans on the western front, the Zeppelin raids are a mere incident, and will but rouse the Allies to even more determined efforts. Besides being by far the biggest and most successful movement yet carried out upon the western front, the Somme offensive is being conducted with the very latest scientific resources. The Germans are now, really anxious, and this Zeppelin diversion has no doubt been launched as an offset to the great drubbing they are receiving at the hands of the AngloFrench forces. The raids will but add to the severity of that judgment which inevitably awaits Germany when the guns and men of the Allies-have accomplished their task.