cacy of their
Zeppelin fleets they began more and more to substitute airplanes for
their airships.

On some of these expeditions much more damage was done than had ever
been done by the Zeppelins. The airplane expedition grew serious in the
year 1917; between May 23d and June 16th of that year there were five
such aerial attacks. The airplanes could not only move with greater
speed but with better direction. An attack on May 25th resulted in the
killing of seventy-six persons and the injuring of one hundred and
seventy-four, the principal victims being women and children. This was
at the town of Folkestone on the southeast coast. In this attack there
were about sixteen airplanes, and the time of the attack was not more
than three minutes. Scarcely any part of Folkestone escaped injury. The
attack was methodically organized. Four separate squadrons passed over
the city, following each other at short intervals. It was impossible to
tell when the attack would end, and people in shelters or cellars were
kept waiting for hours without being able to feel certain that the
danger had passed.

[Illustration: Photograph]
AN AIRPLANE ALARM
Sailors dashing to the fighting tops of a battleship and putting an
anti-aircraft gun in action to repel a hostile airplane.

[Illustration: Painting]
LONDON'S WELCOME TO A ZEPPELIN RAIDER
In the early part of the war Zeppelin raids on England were frequent.
The rapid perfecting of searchlights, anti-aircraft guns and airplane
defenses soon discouraged them. This picture shows an airplane about
to attack with flaming bullets.

[Illustration: Photograph]
GUARDING PARIS FROM THE HUN
Observation post fitted with instruments for gauging the height and
speed of enemy aircraft, a giant searchlight, a listening post and a
"75" gun installed on the outskirts of Paris.

It is probable that one of the motives of these raids was to keep at
home fleets of English airplanes which might be more useful on the
front. Indeed, many Englishmen, alarmed by the damage, urged such a
policy, but the good sense of the English leaders prevented such a
mistake from being made. Pitiful as must have been the suffering in
individual cases, the whole of the damage caused by the German
frightfulness was but a trifle as compared with the usefulness of the
English air-fleets when directly sent against the German armies.
Nevertheless, every squadron of German airplanes sent to England was