TOPICS OF THE MONTH. 



'49 



VII.-IS BRITAIN DEFENCELESS? 



By Major B. Baden- Powell. 



While in default of more convincing 

 evidence, there is no reason to be 

 alarmed at the vague reports of mys- 

 terious airships hovering over England 

 at night, yet such stories draw attention 

 to a matter of the utmost importance 

 to Great Britain, a matter which most 

 of those who discuss our defences are 

 apt to ignore. A great deal is being- 

 said about the deficiencies of the Terri- 

 torials, compulsory service, and our 

 means of defence against invasion. But 

 these questions, though of undoubted 

 importance, refer to the hypothetical 

 case in which, first, our Navy is for some 

 reason temporarily non-existent ; sec- 

 ondl}\ our Regular Army is practically 

 all abroad ; and it is supposed that, 

 under such circumstances, an enemy at- 

 tempts to invade our shores. 



But let us take other, more likel\', cir- 

 cumstances. Let it be supposed that an 

 enemy decides that it is worth risking 

 something to deal a blow at the heart of 

 the Empire. We may have our power- 

 ful Nav}- intact and in its place ; our 

 entire military forces mobilised and 

 ready. The sea and the land may be 

 rendered absolutely impassable to an 

 enemy, but what about the air ? 



A year or two ago, when there were 

 but few military airships capable of 

 attaining a really serviceable speed, no 

 serious attempt at invasion was likely. 

 Now the matter is rapidly becoming 

 very different. Both in Germany and 

 France much practical experience has 

 been gained, and these Governments are 

 capable of judging what is necessary 

 and what is practical. We read various 

 estimates of the strength of their aerial 

 navies, but, without bothering about the 

 exact numbers or capabilities of their 

 air-craft, we may consider all the ma- 

 chines hitherto built as being not much 

 more than experimental. It is, however, 

 now evident that these nations are 

 taking the matter up in all seriousness, 

 and are building real aerial fleets. In 

 the German estimates, it is reported, a 

 sum of ^,'500,000 is to be devoted to the 

 construction of new airships. This 



would mean perhaps twenty large rigid 

 vessels at least as powerful as the latest 

 Zeppelin or Schutte-Lanz. These latter 

 are capable of going at a speed of over 

 50 miles an hovir, and of carrying some 

 two tons of explosives, besides machine 

 guns for defence, while they can cruise 

 in the air for at least 24 hours on end. 

 In France contracts have been placed 

 for seven equally large dirigibles with a 

 minimum speed of 46^^ miles. These 

 fleets will presumably be ready for work 

 within a year. 



Now comes the question, What are we 

 going to do under the above-mentioned 

 conditions, supposing an attack is made 

 through the air? What if one fine night 

 it were discovered that a dozen enor- 

 mous hostile airships were floating over 

 London, or Portsmouth, or other centre? 

 We might, after an hour or two, send a 

 few aeroplanes to attack these airships, 

 but, apart from their anti-aeroplane de- 

 fence, they might be accompanied by a 

 screen of their own aeroplanes, more 

 numerous than all we could bring to 

 bear. One old dirigible we might have 

 wrecked, but a dozen of the new type 

 would not be easy to knock out before 

 they could accomplish their object. It 

 may be said that bomb-dropping is un- 

 certain and by no means so effective as 

 some may think. One or two, or even a 

 dozen, bombs may do but little damage, 

 but if 12 airshops each launched some 

 50 large bombs, there would be a salvo 

 such as must, to say the least, prove very 

 disconcerting to the nerves of us poor 

 wretches below, and would be bound to 

 do some material damage. And this 

 would not be all. After the detonation 

 of some 600 powerful bombs in one 

 night, next night or the night after, the 

 enemy might return and " go on doing 

 it " every da)- that the wind allowed. 

 We could do nothing to prevent them ! 

 Even if such tactics have not that de- 

 cisive result that we have been accus- 

 tomed to consider as necessar\- to de- 

 feat, yet, could we put up with such a 

 bombardment day after da\- without 

 soon coming to terms? 



