The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-10-26
GETTING READY
FOR r I RAID
Invasion Of England by Airships is
Expected to be Feature OF
the War.

Expected to be Feature OF
the War.
IBy Karl H. Won Wiegand, written
for the United Press.l
LIEGE, Sept. 11.-(By courier via
Maastricht and Rotterdam to New
Germany is preparing
aerial attack or invasion Of Eng
land with her feet of Zsppelins, Is
the general impression among oficers
here, SO FAR as I could get any OF
them to express an opinion. That
same impression is in the public mind
in Berlin and elsewhere.
where are all the Zeppelins M
what are they doing?"I asked q mem-
Der OF the Flying Corps.
"Just wait and see," he replied.
England gave us a little surprise on
We will give her q little
surprise before long"
There appear to be but few Zeppe-
Inns with the armies in the field. 1t
is dangerous to ask questions or seek
Information but indications are, and
I have been told from various sources
that the Zeppelins are being concen-
trated close to the North sea It Is
said that the completion Of several
new Zeppelins is being awaited.
Just how many Zeppelins Germany
has. no one outside Of the government
knows. Before the war. the ofictal
record was less than fifteen. There
are reasons for believing that Ger
many has more, in fact many more.
The zeppelins and the AZ centimeter
mortar, are the two mysteries of the
so far. You a take your choice
from the stories that arp afloat about
these two weapons. Among these
are, that the manufactured parts OF q
large number OF Zeppelins had been
made at the Zeppelin works In Fried
~erichshafen and stored ready to be
put together when the emergency
arose. The Zeppelin works are said
to be working day and night. Botn
in Berlin and here l have been told
that Germany las now a fleet I %
aerial cruisers. From other sources
I was told that as soon as q feet OF
thirty z~eppelins could be sent across
the channel, the aerial attack on Eng
land will begin.
That the Germans will make some
daring coup with their aerial fleet n
that in the near future, there is some
reason for believing. It is quite pos
sible that they are merely waiting for
a suitable base, Antwerp, Ostend or
Calais. The stories Of the number OF
Zeprelins Germany now has. must be
taken for what they are worth. Aside
from, the undoubted fact that zeppe-
Inns are being turned out as fast as
possible. no one knows anything
about the size OF the feet except the
government oficials and they won't
tell.
In some quarters the opinion pre-
walls that the English feet will be at
tackled by the Zeppelin fleet or stimuli
t~aneously by the %Zeppelins and the
German feet. In other words the big
battle will be fought In the air, on
the sea and under the sea. all at the
same time.
Although 1T is somewhat early to
draw conclusions, the Zeppelins have
shown in Liege and Antwerp, that as
a weapon of offense they far surpass
tho a%eroplanes. This also has been
stated to me by members OF the oily
ing Corps, who have declared that the
scouting and accommodating OF the
German cavalry of the air." has con-
tributed largely to the German sue
cesses, but that as offensive weapons
the Zeppelins are far superior.
The German aeroplanes carry IL
one and four pound bombs hung in
racks on the sides of the machine.
The dropping Of these bombs through
the air sets a little propeller into mo
ton which screws in the contact point
Or primer so that the bomb will ex-
plode upon hitting any object. Until
the .'primer'' or Contact" Is screwed
in by the propeller, the bomb Is
safe" Thus a forced landing or
smash-up Of the aeroplane would not
explode the bombs carried. The Yep
pelin artillery, as explained to me,
consists of bombs or shells from "a
to So inches in length n about ~
inches in diameter. They are filled
with a high explosive. Dropped on
the thinly protected deck of a battle
ship, it is said they would go through
the ship. The American press, SO far
as I could Judge from the first papers
received in many weeks just before
let Berlin, has practically destroyed
the entire German fleet of Zeppelins'
It seems to have been a poor day
when no more than one Zeppelin was
! shot down by the French or Belgians'
1t is quit, possible that we are less
informed in Germany. but there is
every reason for doubling this whole
sale obstruction OF Zeppelins. So far
as l have watched events, there is a
possibility that two may have beer
destroyed but there Is no proof OF it
and very little to base the superstition
on. The government fatty denies that
it has lost a single Zeppelin so far.
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