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York. With our battle fleet
crippled, sunk, or scattered,
eventually the city would be
subject to bombardment—
certainly from the sky—more
than likely from the sea. The
damage to life and property,
in such an event, the imagination
alone can picture.
It would be incalculable.
Zeppelins are not primarily
for blowing up fortresses.
As a matter of fact, at such
work they are a failure. I
have seen one of the Antwerp
forts upon which a
Zeppelin bomb was dropped.
The result was no better
than that caused by the explosion
of an ordinary sized
shell. In Russia I was at
the fortress of Novo Georgiewsk
after it was captured;
A Zeppelin bombarded Novo
during the infantry attack.
One Zeppelin bomb made a
hole in the roof of a storehouse
and blew it to smithereens—an
achievement of no
military value. Another
bomb landed in the park
where the farming implements
of the fortress were
kept. A perfectly good
Cyrus McCormick harvester only was
destroyed.
No, let us forget the Zeppelins for
blowing up fortresses; let us forget them
for annihilating columns of troops. The
trouble is that fortresses invariably have
powerful anti-aircraft guns. To keep out
of range, a Zeppelin has to fly too high to
drop bombs accurately. Modern artillery
fire is much more effective and
scientific. But the Zeppelin has its use.
That use contrary to popular opinion is
not for raiding England, and spilling
bombs upon theatres and ale houses. To
understand the real use of these Zeppelins,
we must go back to last May.
On the fortified Island of Heligoland,
the doors of great sheds opened, and the
IS NEW YORK IN DANGER? 343
Finis!
The airman above has succeeded in igniting the huge gas balloon with an
incendiary hook bomb.
sharp beaked warbirds emerged. Four
Zeppelins of the German Navy took the
air, rising gracefully into the gray North
Sea sky and skimming with the speed of
express trains toward England. A half
hour passed. The man sitting in the
naval wireless station at Cuxhaven gave
a start. "I G N."
One of the code calls of the German
navy was coming in—from out of the
sky somewhere. The officer in command
of the station clapped on the telephone
headpiece. He called headquarters of
the Admiral. "Important Message."
In flashed the warning from somewhere
in the sky. "Admiral Beatty's
battle cruiser squadron is separated from
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