The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-03-07

Mr.. Macmechen spoke OF the certainty
: Of a Zeppelin raid on London and Of
NEhgIands almost utter helplessness. lie
spoke with an earnestness and an init
+. mate knowledge that carried conviction
, and he gave figures and facts and rea-
sons for his every view. The Zeppelin
. ala on London is coming. Mr.. Mac
4. nechen believes, and 1t viii be a spec.
Scular blow that will paralyze England
etagger the world.
These new Zeppelins win not drop
r. bombs, they will night with guns firing
, steel capped proJectlles. They will not
come IN pairs, hut they will come by the
> score or by the two score. and hundreds
nj aeropianes will come with them.
Mr.. Macmechen classee the Yarmouth
raid as n mere accommodating party and
he believes its purpose was accomplished.
He said;
The first great raid. which the Ger
man have been planning since the war
: 'began and for the success of which they
are depending on the aged Count Zep-
pelin will probably not come for some
weeks. The time is not yet right. The
ffrst raid will be followed by blow upon
, blow aimed directly at the throne OF
England.
The reason there has been no great
. attack on London from the air. Mr..
wv IT uftiu1t ttTlti
tactics and strategy make such an at
TACK FOLLY until there are a certain num-
DER or these airships, enough to leave
a wide trail of destruction.
To strike EnxIand's Heart.
p For instance. II Germany had Atty
OF these new Zeppelins they would
strike England 10 the heart. They could
hit Londo a body blow to-day and come
hack again tomorrow, Coun, Zeppelin
viii strike when he gets ready and not
when England wants him TO.
Suppose the British did bring down
two of the fifty and a dozen of the aero
planes: the rest would 20 back to their
hase and be ready to come again in a
Few hours. Whether they came or MOI
they would be ready and with that
knowledge there would be little rest in
London
The knowledge gained in the first
attack would make the second attack
more deadly. England has been pre-
pairing for these attacks. hut she began
10 prepare too late. England spent too
much time laughing in the face of sci
ence.
The British Admiralty knows all this
now. The people OF England are not
afraid. because they don't know the dan
ger n the Admiralty is not telling
them. yet 5000 coustables have been
mustered in with Instructions to herd
the people OF London into the cellars
at the first appearance OF a Zeppelin.
"The Intelligence Department OF Great
Britain knows the preparations that
Germany IL making. Further confirm
Ing details are coming In nearly every
day. One report from Lake Constance.
where the observer remained nineteen
weeks. told of a complete Zeppelin being
turned out from the factory every two
weeks while he was there.
These are OF the new super-dread-
nought type. a great Improvement over
he two airships that took part in the
Yarmouth raid. Germany had just COM
pleted two of these super-dreadnought
Zeppelins when the war began. but she
has been building them ever since. /
estimate that ehe has at least forty OF
them now. each with six guns. two on
top and two at each side.
"Perhaps Germany Is ready to strike
now. yet I should he surprised II she
made the Arst raid this month. March
f. not the most favorable time on ac- .
count Of the winds. Z do not 'Hsh <o.s
the big air Invasion untc. AYts4 vue Md.
die Of April. hut I believe Il will come
soon after that.
And why isn't England ready How
is 1t that she has no defence worthy
OF the name against this attack?
IF five years ago British military au-
ttO TAU Stuultu anu 'Dulu nave |
fpreseen what the development would he
We would a had thousands OF aero
planes and hundreds of huge dlrigibles
brought to n higher degree Of efficiency.
Then we would have had II. q. Weiss
War in the Air a. a grim reality.
THE trouble has been that military
men have never had more than an IN
tuitive and not a consciously reasoned
conception OF the powers and limitations
of aircraft This has laH military man ]
astray. They have said:
I'VE recognize aircraft as a prob
able auxiliary to the cavalry. hut that
aircraft will knock out the strategy we
ave known FOR years. the strategy we
learned at the military academy, is alb
surd.'
"But now II has been demonstrated
beyond a doubt hat aircraft has knocked
war strategy into a cooked hat. Many
Of the old time war methods have gone
forever and others are passing. II Is
time to write a new book on strategy.
Advantage at Night.
"Dirigibles have been used much more
In this war than we have been allie TO
Judge from what We nave seen in print.
They have been used especially AT night.
when the dirigible has a distinct advan-
tage. When the history Of this war il
written W. will find that we have not
begun to approximate what the dirigibles
have been doing OF course the aero
plane can go up in the darkness as well
AS the dirigible. but IL is a question OF
landing. Tn aeroplane must land on a
level place at high speed. 1t cannot see
The wire fences, rocks and SO on. Rut
The dirigibie can settle slowly to the
ground.
1.-THE aeroptane has been the eyes ~
the battery and it has had TO court
considerable risk. flying as low as 1000
feet TO see In detail.
"Yet the high angle gun has been nd.
Judged inefficient even at that height,
That gives military science another blow.
The reasons are the difficulty Of aim
and the time II takes to lay n gun that
MAS the reach. AeropIanes have indeed
been hit, hut solely because OF III. reck.
Iessness OF pilots who flew Us low a. 400
% 800 feet. II has certainly been dem.
O%nstrated that aerOpIanes are almost
Immune from ground attack.
'Now how about the high angie gun
and the dirigible? Huge floating marks
so easy to HIT. we've all heard that
phrase. And then What was the sole
Lesson Of the CuXhavon raid? 1t has
never appeared In print
"I talked with four men who saw ,ho,
raid. Two of them were naval ayiators
and two were on the fleet. When the
Zeppelins appeared-and this was i'm
broad dayiight-the entire fleet concen-
trated its high angle guns on the Zen
pelins. And the answer is thai the Pen
pelins went home, These were the most