This furnished a striking test of
the French aerial defenses, for none of the German aeroplanes was able
to get near Paris, and in the attempt one was shot to pieces by a
French gun plane which overtook the German and riddled the machine
with bullets, causing it to fall in flames with the pilot incinerated.
The German aeroplanes were first discovered by the French scouts as
they flew over the French battle front at so great a speed and height
that attack from the ground from the parks near the battle lines was
impossible. The alarm was given by telephone, however, while north of
Paris the French patrol flotilla was found in readiness. The Germans
were forced to retreat, and in addition to the aeroplane shot down, as
already mentioned, another was fired upon after it had dropped five
bombs on Montmorency.

On September 3, 1915, a raid nearly 150 miles from the French base was
made by two French aviators on Donaueschingen and Marbach in Bavaria.
On the same day in retaliation for the German bombardment at Luneville
and Compiegne the French air service sent out a squadron of nineteen
aeroplanes over the town of Treves, which dropped about 100 shells.
The same squadron, after returning to its base, proceeded in the
afternoon to drop fifty-eight shells on the station at Dommary and on
Baroncour.

During September, 1915, the Germans resumed over-sea raids, and naval
airships attacked the city of London, with results considered
generally satisfactory, as German bombs were dropped on the western
part of the city, the factories at Norwich, and the harbor and iron
works near Middlesbrough. In this raid, made by three Zeppelins on the
night of September 8-9, 1915, the British reported as a result 20
killed, 14 seriously wounded, 74 slightly wounded. The Zeppelins flew
over Trafalgar Square, one of the innermost places of London, and were
clearly visible from the streets. They were attacked by antiaircraft
guns, and by aeroplanes, but the latter were unable to locate the
airships, whose bombs, both incendiary and explosive, fell on
buildings and in the streets. Later in the month of September other
Zeppelin raids occurred over various parts of the eastern countries of
England.

On September 22, 1915, French aviators made a spectacular raid and
shelled the royal palace and station at Stuttgart in the kingdom of
Wuerttemburg. This was partly in retaliation for the bombarding by the
Germans of open towns and civilian populations,