WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

CREATING THE AIR MINISTRY 119
Defence against Air Raids, and (2) the existing general organisation
for the study and higher direction of aerial operations.
As I was myself unremittingly busied with every phase
of our national activities, I had to leave the chief burden of
the work to General Smuts, and I kept in constant touch with
him.
General Smuts went first of all into the question of the
defence of London, on which he submitted his report to the
War Cabinet on July 19th. He found that the success of the
German raids was due in no small measure to causes which
could be remedied. In the first place, although we really had
a very large number of machines and personnel in the Air
Services available to defend London, they were not unified,
but were independently controlled by three or four different
authorities, so that there was no organised cooperation between
them, and the Germans could attack us without serious
risk of counterattack. The measures recommended by General
Smuts and adopted by the War Cabinet were, in the
first place, to secure a unified command under a first-class
officer of the whole defence forces against air attacks on
London. General Ashmore was appointed for the purpose
and proved a most efficient officer. The available planes
were combined into proper units, trained for fighting in flight
formation, so as to meet the German attack in that form.
Three or four squadrons were recommended for formation,
which could deal with the enemy, not only over London, but
also before London was reached. This was done, and the
Germans, when next they attacked, found themselves opposed
by forces equal to their own, in mass formation, before
they reached London, and only isolated machines reached
the metropolitan area at all. The anti-aircraft guns were also
placed outside London in such a way as to meet the advancing