A fast-flying German "Taube"-so-called because of its resemblance to a dove-trying to escape from a French aeroplane which is equipped with a rapid-fire machine gun. This is an unusual photo of an encounter between air scouts above the battlefield of Arras.

ZEPPELIN DEVICE FOR DROPPING BOMBS.

An armored car is suspended by three cables from the Zeppelin airship to a distance of several thousand feet below the monster air-craft, which is concealed in the clouds above. (Sphere copr.)

front were to be counted by thousands. Many of the aviators did most of their work singly, in mid-air duels, and there were those who had records of having brought down twenty, thirty or more aeroplanes of the ency. Some of the most daring and most efficient on the French side were American volunteers, who were indeed so numerous that an American squadron of aviators was formed. Much of the fighting was also done in squadrons, and there were days when from a single point on the battle front hundreds of aeroplanes were visible, soaring, circling, signaling and fighting. Of the immense value of these craft there was never a moment's doubt.

THE FAILURE OF THE ZEPPELINS

The gigantic Zeppelins, as the dirigible balloons were called after their inventor, were on the contrary a costly failure. So far as the most careful investigation can determine, not one of those vessels made a single raid with results at all commensurate with its cost, while almost every one that undertook an important exploit came to disaster and ruin. Some were wrecked in storms, some had trouble with their engines or gas tanks and exploded, but most of them were shot down by terrestrial artillery or by the swift and agile aeroplanes which whirled about them like tiny kingbirds attacking crows.

Many of them did fly over England, and by dropping explosive and incendiary bombs upon residential villages destroyed some houses and churches and killed many non-combatant people, chiefly women and children. Some even raided parts of London and did a little damage there, though their chief effects were to afford exciting spectacles to the populace, and to exasperate the people into enlisting more numerously for military service. In forty-four

raids they killed 431 persons. But scarcely one of them returned to Germany to tell the tale. Several were shot down, and plunged to English earth, blazing wrecks, while others were pursued, overtaken and destroyed at sea by the vengeful bird men of the British aeroplane service.

FALSE TALES OF DESTRUCTION

The only important achievements of the Zeppelins were performed in the imaginations of German officials and newspaper writers. There were some lurid tales of

CH

AIRSHIP ZEPPELIN III

a a, engines; b, rudder; c c, dipping-planes; d d, propellers.

destructive raids which had laid England under a reign of terror, every word of which was false. Thus on February 1, 1916, the German Naval Staff officially reported that airships had thrown bombs upon Liverpool and Birkenhead with important results, including heavy explosions and great fires. The German Embassy at Washington added that a large number of bridges had been damaged so that they could not be used, several ships were damaged, docks, dry docks, engine works, boiler works and a powder factory were destroyed, and in all over two hundred houses were destroyed by bombs and fires.

Now, says Mr. S. S. McClure, the well-known American publicist, who visited Liverpool shortly after that date, "As soon as I reached Liverpool I was eager to see for myself what had happened. I saw nothing, for nothing had happened. No Zeppelin had ever come near Liver

pool, Birkenhead or Manchester." ("Obstacles to Peace," page 158.) A similar but even more detailed and explicit denial of the story was made by a Swedish journalist whom Mr. McClure quotes.

On

There were also German reports of Zeppelin raids upon London: "The alarm and consternation was indescribable. The population was for the most part in hiding in cellars and underground railway tunnels. the Thames several bridges sustained severe injury. Numerous destructive fires were caused in the West India Docks. Rumor puts the loss of life at twenty-one thousand. With many a mighty crash blocks of houses were torn asunder."

Says Mr. McClure: "This whole statement is pure imagination. The absolute truth is, that none of the statements made by the German Government or the German newspapers is true, so far as anyone can find out." Yet the German people absolutely believed these fables. The military importance of the raids was entirely nil. Upon the British people the effect was merely that of exasperation against an enemy that thus waged war against non-combatants, and of incitement to engage more vigorously in the task of defeating and crushing that enemy. Upon the German people the effect of the fanciful fables was, no doubt, to restrain them from the disaffection, despair and revolt which would have been caused by knowledge of the truth.

THE FUNCTION OF THE AIRSHIP

The net conclusion thus far attained, as the result of nearly three years of war, is that the gigantic dirigible balloon is of little practical value for military operations; not at all commensurate with its cost and its perils. The