THE fiasco of the dirigible and the triumph of the aeroplane are the striking features of the present war in the air. The truth of that assertion is selfevident, but it is brought out yet more clearly by a glance at the situation which existed when the Germans forced war on Russia and France, and by their miscalculation concerning the value the British nation attached to its honour and "a scrap of paper," saw Great Britain come to the rescue of Belgium and to the support of the French Republic against the attack of the unscrupulous foe. At that time the Germans were the only people that boasted of possessing an aerial fleet capable of waging aggressive warfare. While France, Great Britain, Belgium, and Russia had organised their respective aerial forces for scouting, exploration, and, at most, VOL. CXCVII.-NO. MCXCIV. for the rectifying of their gunners' fire, the Germans had built a fleet of dirigibles destined, in their opinion, to work havoc, and to spread terror by raining explosives on their enemies. They had also armed their aeroplanes with bombs, to add to the work of destruction. Even before the first shot was fired the Kaiser had invited his friend, Count Zeppelin, to push forward in hot haste the construction of as many of his airships as possible, and had ordered all the other dirigible balloon manufacturers to build Zeppelins, or at least dirigibles of the rigid type, destined to reinforce the already existing aerial fleet, whose first missions were to be the destruction of the British squadron blockading the German coast, and the support of the army invading Belgium and France, before attacking 2 H the Channel ports, London, Paris, &c. The Germans did send a dirigible to help their army at Liége, but it never returned home. Their aeroplanes, however, continued to swarm over the invaded Belgian and French territory during the whole of the months of August, September, and even October. They were much more numerous than the Allies had expected they would be, and it was known the German aeroplane constructors, like the dirigible builders, had been urged to work day and night to supply the army with all the machines they could make. The Germans rightly foresaw the Fifth Arm would play a most important, if not decisive part, in the campaign, and they were as convinced of the superiority in the air belonging to them, as they were sure of the invincibility of their army. And at the commencement of the hostilities, it is undeniable, neither France, nor Great Britain, nor Russia, nor perhaps all the three allied Powers together, possessed so numerically strong an aerial fleet as Germany. The Allies knew their dirigibles were a quantité negligeable as offensive weapons, and though they had confidence in their aeroplanes and their aviation pilots for the work they had been trained to perform, they were unprepared to use them in offensive warfare. How many aeroplanes and aviation pilots Germany possessed on the outbreak of the war is not known; but it is easy to compute the strength of her then existing fleet of dirigibles, because the construction and trial flights of the airships could not be concealed. Count Zeppelin commenced building them in 1900, and had, when the present war broke out, built a total of twenty-five of his rigid aerial vessels. The first proved a complete failure, and was broken up. The second, launched into the air five years later, was almost immediately wrecked by a storm of wind in January 1906. The third was more fortunate. Built in 1906, it was purchased by the German army, and was not broken up till 1913. The fourth, a passenger airship, was wrecked by a storm almost as soon as it was completed in 1908. The fifth, a military dirigible, delivered to the German army in 1909, was, the following year, also wrecked by storm. The sixth, a passenger airship, launched in 1909, was burnt in its shed the following year. The seventh (Deutschland), of which the construction was completed in the spring of 1910, was wrecked by a storm in July of the same year. The eighth was even more unlucky, as almost the first time it left its shed in 1911 it was caught by a gust of wind and destroyed by collision with it. The ninth, a military dirigible, built in 1911, was stationed at Cologne. The tenth (Schuben), constructed in 1911, was burnt in 1912. The eleventh (VictoriaLouise), a passenger airship, was built in 1911 and 1912. The twelfth, a military dirigible, launched in 1912, was 8 stationed at Metz. The thir- should be counted, as they were teenth (Hansa), a passenger commandeered by the German airship, was built in 1912. military authorities in August The fourteenth, constructed in 1914. The dimensions of all 1912, foundered in the sea off those dirigibles were considerHeligoland in September 1913. able. The military dirigible The fifteenth, a military dirig- stationed at Metz was the ible, built in 1913, was wrecked smallest of all, as it had a by storm in September of the capacity of only 618,040 cubic same year. The sixteenth, feet. Each of the three comlaunched in 1913, was the mandeered airships had a military dirigible which was capacity of about 700,000 cubic blown over French territory feet. The military dirigibles and constrained by stress of constructed in 1913 had weather to come to earth near capacity varying between Lunéville on 3rd April of the 688,674 and 776,965 cubic same year. The seventeenth feet, while each of those con(Saxen), a passenger airship, structed last year, before the was delivered in 1913. The beginning of the war, had a eighteenth, a naval dirigible, capacity of 882,915 cubic feet. built in 1913, exploded the The Germans also possessed at same year. The nineteenth, a that moment eight semi-rigid military dirigible, constructed or non-rigid dirigibles, having in 1913, was almost completely a capacity varying between wrecked in June 1914. Two 17,658 cubic feet and 52,975 other military dirigibles, the cubic feet. Their aerial fleet twentieth and twenty-first, was therefore far from being were launched in 1913; and despicable in the number of before the declaration of war its units and their size. at the beginning of August German nation, from the Kaiser 1914, Count Zeppelin had sup- to the peasant, believed it plied the German army with would often decide victory, three other dirigibles - the especially as millions of pounds twenty-second, the twenty- sterling had been expended in third, and the twenty-fifth- providing the airships with and the navy with one, the sheds all over the Empire, and twenty-fourth. of course more particularly at places on the coast and the western and eastern frontiers where it was imagined the "invincible aerial dreadnoughts" could start with advantage to attack the enemy. Indeed no fewer than thirtyseven aeronautic centres had been created, and some of them, such as Berlin, Cologne, Heligoland, &c., were provided with several sheds each. This enumeration shows that of the twenty-five Zeppelins constructed before the outbreak of the war, twelve had been completely destroyed and one had been most seriously damaged. Consequently there were only twelve left. Of those twelve Zeppelins, the Victoria-Louise, the Hansa, and the Saxen were passenger airships belonging to private companies, but they The That was the situation at the beginning of the war. As for the reinforcement of that fleet by the Zeppelins constructed at Friedrichshafen and elsewhere, during the last seven months, most fantastical reports have been circulated. According to certain Swiss newspapers, thirty or forty new super-Zeppelins, each having a capacity of 27,000 cubic metres (953,548 cubic feet), are now ready to assume the offensive against the Allies' armies and navies. That report is evidently a gross exaggeration of the facts. If Count Zeppelin has, on an average, built at Friedrichshafen one super-Zeppelin every three weeks since the month of August last, he will have achieved a miracle. The number of those new aerial dreadnoughts cannot therefore be greater than ten or eleven, and in all probability it is not greater than eight or nine. The other German steerable balloon manufacturers may also have built a few dirigibles of the rigid type, but it is a generous estimate to put down fifteen new units to the credit of the German aerial fleet lighter than air. To utilise them to the best effect new sheds have been built on the Prussian sea - coast and in Belgian and French towns occupied by the German army. It is probable each of the new sheds is sufficiently spacious to house one of the huge new aerial dreadnoughts, but it is quite certain that no single one of the sheds which existed before the outbreak of the hos tilities was, at that time, large enough to contain one. However, some of them may have been enlarged. With the fifteen new units added to the twelve Zeppelins which existed at the beginning of August last, Germany would now possess a fleet of twentyseven Zeppelins if none of them had been destroyed. However, the truth is, the airships on which the foe founded such high hopes have been destroyed by one means or another quite as fast as new ones have been built. It is impossible to control the truth of all the assertions concerning the wrecking of the aerial vessels by shot and shell, by atmospherical perturbations, by aviators dropping bombs on their sheds, &c., but the fiasco of the Zeppelins commenced as soon as the German army crossed the Belgian frontier. It is a wellestablished fact that the first German dirigible which attempted to participate in the war by flying over Liége, probably with the intention of bombarding the town from the air, was brought down by gunfire from the forts. Since then, the Zeppelins have been more prudent, but they have put in an appearance by stealth on various occasions. Before Antwerp was captured by the foe a Zeppelin attempted to murder the Queen of the Belgians in her palace by dropping bombs on the building. projectiles missed their aim, but killed a woman and a child. The greater number of the subsequent exploits of the German dirigibles have been The It of the same character. No astonishing if Count Zeppelin one can complain of aerial was as satisfied with the result vessels coming by stealth-that of that raid of his airships as is to say, profiting by mist, fog, his Imperial master and the clouds, or the darkness of night, German nation. It is unto accomplish a military mis- likely he was greatly grieved sion, such as the destruction at "the slaughter of the inof war vessels, military and nocents," though he subsenaval defences, arsenals, rail- quently assured an American way lines, bridges, &c., or to journalist that "no one regrets attack troops, convoys, &c. It their death more than I do." is, however, another thing to The probability is that, if the seek by stealth to slaughter explosives had wrought greater non-combatants in undefended havoc and exterminated & towns. The former is quite greater number of human legitimate warfare, whereas beings, even though non-comthe latter is an odious violation batants, he would have felt of the rights of non-combatants happier. Of course he took which must be qualified as care not to manifest dismurder. Yet the one 66 success- appointment, but the result ful" feat of the Zeppelins, as of the attack of his airships the Germans call it, was the was most disproportionately perpetration of that crime. It small compared with the effort is said five or six Zeppelins made and the risks run. started from Cuxhaven and is averred that five or six Heligoland to slaughter non- Zeppelins started on the combatants at Yarmouth and expedition. It is certain all other places on the coast of six did not reach their destinaNorfolk. All of them did not tion. succeed in reaching their destination, but two of them did, and dropped their explosives with the effect known to every British subject. The bombs killed a certain number of persons, for the most part women and children, wrecked a few houses. The news of the murderous achievement was received with enthusiastic joy in Berlin, and indeed throughout the whole of the German Empire. The Kaiser was so satisfied with the result of the aerial raid that he wrote an eloquent letter congratulating Count Zeppelin on it. and However, it would be rather Three or four of them must have returned home before completing the outward voyage. Even from a sporting point of view the flight of two airships out of six across the North Sea, from Cuxhaven and Heligoland, and their safe return to their starting-places, was not a remarkable performance. And there is indirect evidence that even that result was not attained. A Zeppelin was seen foundering in the North Sea. Whether it was one of those which had visited the English coast, or one of those which had started and failed to fulfil its mission, is uncertain. If Count Zeppelin could |