A typical day of this season with the birdmen of France was April 2, 1915. A War Office report of that day tells of forty-three reconnoitering flights and twenty others for the purpose of attacking enemy positions or ascertaining the direction of gunfire. Bombs were dropped upon the hangars and aviation camp at Habsheim. The munition factories at Dietweiler, and the railway station in Walheim. The station at Bensdorf and the barracks at the same place were shelled from the air. Much damage was done.
Seven French aeroplanes flew over the Woevre region on this day, penetrating as far as Vigneulles, where the aerial observers discovered barracks covered with heavy corrugated iron. The machines descended in long spirals and dropped a number of bombs, setting the barracks afire. Troops were seen rushing in all directions from the burning structures.
The aviation camp at Coucu-le-Château, north of Soissons, and the station at Comines, Belgium, were under fire from the air. In Champagne a quantity of shells were unloosed upon the station at Somme-Py and Dontrein, near Eacille and St. Etienne-sur-Suippe enemy bivouacs were bombarded. Other bivouacs at Basancourt and Pont Faverger were struck by arrows dropped from the skies.
These numerous raids and reconnaissances were repeated every day at many points. German airmen were not less active than those of the Allies. Neither side allowed a fine day to pass without watching the enemy from the air and striking him at such places and times as they could.
Early on the morning of April 13, 1915, a Zeppelin was discovered surveying allied gun positions near Ypres, in Belgium. The batteries immediately opened fire and several shells found their target, judging from the heavy list which the airship developed. It was seen to be in serious trouble as it made its escape. Amsterdam reported the following day that the craft fell near Thielt, a complete wreck. What became of the crew never was learned.
The raids on England were now resumed. On April 13, 1915, a Zeppelin visited Newcastle-on-Tyne and several near-by towns. Newcastle, a great naval station and manufacturing city, had been the objective of previous air attacks that brought forth little result. The Zeppelin commander, who directed the bombardment of the thirteenth, was well informed and proceeded straight to the arsenal and naval workshops. More than a dozen bombs fell. Strangely enough none of these caused material loss, and there were no casualties. Dwellings were set afire in other quarters of the city. The stir that followed brought England to the realization that better weather was dawning and with it an imminent peril. Efforts were redoubled to ward off aerial raiders.
A flotilla of Zeppelins shelled Blyth, Wallsend, and South Shields, on the northeastern coast of England on the night of April 14, 1915. This attack was directed primarily at the industrial and shipping centers of Tyneside. Berlin claimed a distinct success, but the British denied that extensive harm had been done.
French airmen drove home an attack on April 15, 1915, that had important results. The station at Saint-Quentin was shelled from the air and upward of 150 freight cars and extensive freight sheds destroyed. Some of the cars contained benzol, the explosion of which spread burning liquid in every direction. Adjacent buildings were consumed by the spreading fire and it seemed that Saint-Quentin itself might go. Twenty-four German soldiers were killed and the fire burned from four o'clock in the afternoon until six the next morning, the explosion of shells being frequently heard. These facts were communicated to the French by spies and prisoners and thus written into the war's record.
Lowestoft and Maldon, only thirty miles from London, were the mark of bombs on the morning of April 16, 1915. The raiders arrived at Lowestoft about midnight and released three bombs, one of which killed two horses. A half hour later they appeared over Maldon, where six bombs were dropped. Several fires broke out. There was a panic when searchlights revealed one of the raiders still hovering above the city. But he apparently was merely bent on learning the extent of his success, as he passed on to Hebridge, two miles away, where a building was fired by a bursting shell.
Another German squadron of six craft was sighted at Ipswich, approaching from the direction of the channel. A few fires in Ipswich and two persons hurt at Southwold were the only evidences of the visit. This raid was made significant by the fact that the squadron paid small attention to towns in its route, proceeding to Henham Hall, residence of the Countess Stradbroke, near Southwold. It then was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers. A half dozen bombs fell in close proximity to the main building, but fortunately none of them struck their mark.