Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1915-08-27
MEM WHO GO UP N AIR TO FIGHT
ARE REAL HEROES Of THIS WAR
Two Astounding Facts Noticed on Battle Lines by Edward B. Clark
Are That 1t Is Almost Impossible for Artlerymen to Hit an
AeropIane and Almost Equally Impossible for an kNa-
tor to Hit Selected Target With a Bomb. liz.

u an nour Whlle h machine clrcIeu
above her head. Finally she started
back to her hotel and had just reached
IL when the supposed French biplane
dropped eight bombs, n after anoth-
er, in fairly rapid succession.
The Eifel Tower rears its head n
thousand feet above the plane Of
Paris. 1t is used as a wireless tele-
graph station and on the platform at
Its top are mounted several antiair-
craft guns. The German biplane
which was disguised as a Frenchman
was attempting to take the life" Of
the Eiffel tower. The eight bombs
which the German let fall were aimed
at the tower, but the bomb nearest to
the mark fell nearly half q mile
away from II.
One of the MaryeIs.
The poor success which aviators
have in hitting the things they aim
at Is one Of the marvels of the pres
emit warfare. -
Not long ago there was an account
Of an attack made through the air on
a German depot at Bruges, Belgium.
French and English aviators in con-
siderable numbers flew over the place
and succeeded in dropping bombs in
to a shipyard and On a freight depot
and in doing considerable damage to
both. This exploit was hailed as a
great triumph Of craftsmanship.
Nothing was said about the fact that
before the successful raid, ten at
tempts had been made by many avi-
ators acting together to hit the same
mark and all had failed. To hit a
thing once in ten times is not ION.
sidered a particularly high average
Of Workmanship on land or sea, but
1t seems that the man who can ring
the bell" nee in ten times from the
air is considered a sharpshooter.
don't want to get away from this
craftsmanship subject until I tell the
story Of something which happened
in an English coast town which I Wis
tied but whose name l am not per.
mitted to disclose. Some weeks ago
the English authorities published the
names Of the towns and villages which
had suffered from German aeroplane
or Zeppelin attacks, but recently they
have suppressed the names Of the
towns which have received the bap'
tism Of fire from above.
Shock Cures Paralysis.
I went into one English village
which had been visited the night be
fore by a Zeppelin. Bombs had beer
dropped haphazard because it was i'm
possible to pick out a mark in the
inky blackness Of the night. One
bomb fell on a hospital in which there
were about one hundred wounded
English soldiers. Not one Of then
was hurt, but all Of them except the
legless n made q hurried escape
from the wrecked building, wounded
and sick though they were. One sol
der who had disappeared wal
searched for hurriedly by the nurses
He was found half a mile up the road
This man had been taken to the hos
pital completely paralyzed from tn
waist down. He had been unable t
move either leg and yet under tn
shock of the explosion and the result
ing excitement he found the use of hi
legs and made a good half mile befor
he fell down exhausted.
At the front in France the noise Q
the cannonading is almost continuous
The big guns roar away all throug
the days and sometimes through tn
nights when not a small rifle is b.
ing fred, and no charges Of infantr
are being made. OF course, the cal
non have an objective for their shot
usually some battery Of the enemy Q
some wood in which large forces
men are supposed to be assembled
Occasionally a battery Is put out {
> commission by a dropping shell an
, also occasionally q score OF so Of me
!. will be blown to fragments by tn