The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1914-02-26


Those who followed the develop
ment of the Italian-Turks will remember
how at the very start of the campaign, before the
first engagement took place, the newly landed
Italians were saved from an unpleasant surprise
by the aerial scouts, who observed three advanc-
ing columns of Turks and Arabs OF about 6'ooo
men. The Italians, after receiving this informa-
ton could successfully calculate distances and ar
range for their defense
On the following day. October "a, the battle Of
SciaraSciat took place, resulting in the loss 10
the Turkish army of 5000 men, During the bat
tie two aeroplanes were circling The air the
flights took place above the line of fire, so as to
be able to direct the firing of the big guns from
the battleship Carlo Alberto and also OF the noun
tain artillery The aeroplanes often shot
at by the guns of the enemy, but with no results
The finding of the enemy was an influential event
The situation at the time was such that without
that discovery the Italians would have met with
a defeat which might have affected the whole
campaign. Thus two men and two old, half worn
aeroplanes saved a defeat which might have In
Voved the loss of thousands of liveS-as was the
case in the Erithrea campagn-at cost OF pos
sbly only few dollars, the price of gasolene and
oil
Later in the campaign the aeroplane became a
veritable advance agent Of peace, being used by
the Italian officers to drop manifestoes over the
encampment telling the natives of the Italians In
tentions. This is very important matter be-
cause, as shown by Frances long campaign IN
Algeria and Morocco most of the trouble in colon
les is due to the natives misunderstanding the
purposes Of the invaders, who never have a
chance to explain their intentions
Again in the Balkan the aeropane was a
messenger of peace.
Perhaps the greatest surprise of the Balkan
war was that Adrianople the Gibraltar of theNBal-
kans, which the Turks were supposed to detend
to the last breath of life captured with little
loss of life by a comparatively small force. The
aeroplane-even the old type clumsy machines,
manned by unframed pilots, used by the Bulgar-
ians-deserves the greatest credit for the saving
of life and money.
The Bulgarian air scouts, though unframed in
military matters and poorly equipped mechanic
ally, went out over the besieged city and brought
to their commanders information which enabled
them to attack the weakest spots Then others
messengers of peace whom humanity should
recognize now that they have saved thousands OF
lives in both the Tripolitanian and Balkan wars
scared over the city and dropped messages to the
besieged, which if not of peace, made for peace
An admirable feat in saving the lives of 500
French soldiers is credited to single aeroplane
of the French Morocco squadron In December,
1872 a column of 500 French troops had been sur
rounded by rebels to the south Of Mogador and
for five days some anxiety was felt for their safe
ty. Then Lieutenant Do-Hu, in his Bleriot mono
plane, was able to convey information to the COM
mander that reinforcements were close at hand
and, encouraged, they renewed rtheir Defence
while the rebels, seeing ominous signs in the ar
rival of the aeroplane, retreated.
Life saving in time of peace, while it has not
attained more than fraction of the number of
lives saved in war, is, perhaps, more interesting
to most people than the latter, being closer to
daily needs and experiences of the general public.