The Zeppelin visit seems to have surprised the military authorities more than civilians. While the latter were often heard to express surprise at the long immunity of the city from aerial attacks, it seemed to be taken for granted at the War Ministry that such attacks had been made impossible by perfect, organization of the defences. In the meantime, however, the Germans were improving their Zep-Pelins so that they could go up to a height of 13,000 feet, or twice as high as they were able to climb at the beginning of the war.
No corresponding change was made in the arrangements for the defence of Paris, and they proved far from satisfactory. The warning that a Zeppelin had been seen over La Ferté Milan, about forty miles from Paris, was received in Paris at 9.90 p.m., but the alarm was not given until a few minutes before the attack. On the western side of the city, in fact, the alarm was sounded after the attack was over.
The aeroplanes told off to protect the Paris district were sent up too late to have any chance of catching the Zeppelin, and they received no assistance from their comrades at the front, who, to the lay mind, had fair chance of intercepting the airship on its way back to the German lines. There was clearly something lacking in the French system.
The defence arrangements for comprise three departments. One keeps & look-out at night and reports to headquarters, another has anti-aircraft guns wherewith to shell the airship and a third controls the aeroplanes. All these services are under the Military Governor of Paris but are independent of one another, and one does not know what the rest are doing. The whould be trolled by one cen cal authority, but either there is no such control or it was inficiently exercised on Saturday night. Judging by the questions which are being put to the War Minister by the Parliamentary representatives of Paris, there is con siderable dissatisfaction.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.