ussed, lasted
three-quarters of an hour, and as the French reenforcements came the
Germans retreated to their own lines, though it was reported that
several of the French machines were disabled and forced to land.
Regarding this contest the opinion was expressed that the French were
inadequately armed to fight the Germans, and that the latter were not
driven back until armed scouts had joined the French. Furthermore, it
was believed that the German aeroplanes were more heavily armed than
those previously employed, and represented a new and more powerful
type of machine. If the French suffered in this battle for lack of
armament, the lesson was taken to heart, for the following week a
French squadron of thirty-two units, including bombing machines
convoyed by a flotilla of armed scouts (_avions de chasse_) made an
attack on the station and factories of Saarbruecken.

There was air war over sea as well as over land. On August 3, 1915, a
squadron of Russian seaplanes attacked a German gunboat near Windau
and forced her to run ashore, while the same squadron attacked a
Zeppelin and two German seaplanes, one of which was shot down. The
Russians the following day attacked Constantinople and dropped a
number of bombs on the harbor fortifications. That the advantage was
not entirely with the Allies at this time was shown by the report that
on August 10, 1915, a Turkish seaplane attacked an ally submarine near
Boulair. The Russian seaplanes were again successful on August 10,
1915, when they participated in the repulse of the Germans off the
Gulf of Riga, where they attempted to land troops. The Russians had
merely small sea craft such as torpedo boats and submarines in this
engagement, but their seaplanes proved very effective, and the Germans
retired with a cruiser and two torpedo boats damaged.

After the attack by German Zeppelins on the east coast of England in
June, 1915, there was a lull in the activity of the German airships.
Count Zeppelin had stated early in the spring that in August fifteen
airships of a new type capable of carrying at least two tons of
explosives would be available, and accordingly, when a squadron of
five Zeppelins were sighted off Vlieland, near the entrance of the
Zuyder Zee, pointed for England, it was realized that attempted aerial
invasion was being resumed in earnest. These airships bombed war
vessels in the Thames, the London docks, torpedo boats near Harwich,
and military establishments on