The Great War of 189-: A ForecastForbes, Archibald
History
The Great War of 189-: A Forecast
Forbes, Archibald
Imaginary wars and battles; Science fiction
Our Correspondent’s description of this march is most interesting and
graphic, but we must abridge it in order to come to greater events. It
will be sufficient to say that they ascertained that the Russian
headquarters had arrived near Shumla without having had any news of the
landing of the English Army. The Russian Army was moving on Varna. The
Varna force had, however, evidently received orders to make an attempt,
if possible, to induce the town to surrender. Just as the cavalry
arrived on distant hills within sight of the town, they saw a balloon
hanging over it. This at first gave them some anxiety lest their
movements might be watched, and their position discovered. In a short
time, however, they had reason to perceive that the balloon was there
for a very different purpose. A sight, as our Correspondent describes
it, at once appalling and magnificent met their view. A black mass of
some kind was seen to drop from the balloon; as it about reached the
level of the tallest buildings in the place it suddenly burst into a
lurid glare which lighted up the minarets and pinnacles of the old
Turkish town. Its course was marked by crashing buildings and falling
ruins. It was evidently a dynamite shell of vast proportions, which had
been deliberately dropped from the balloon.
The object could only have been to terrorise the inhabitants by a cruel
and wanton destruction of property. If it had chanced on a magazine it
might have produced some effect upon the defence. As it was, it could
and did produce none. It indicated to the Englishmen who watched it,
rather the parting attempt of Russian hopelessness than a serious effort
of war. Nevertheless, a tremendous cannonade was simultaneously opened
from all the works near the town, and was not put an end to until some
of our ships, which had maintained communication with the garrison,
closed in, to within range of the works, and though at a considerable
distance threw such a mass of shells against the Russian field-guns that
they were glad to cease their fire and withdraw.
We give in our Correspondent’s words the next scene. ‘Not so, however,
the balloon. To our amazement we saw it deliberately change its course
over the town and steer in teeth of the wind, which was at the time a
comparatively light breeze setting seawards. As it reached the position
which it was evidently seeking—nearly over the magazines of Varna—we
again saw another shell drop out of the balloon, and as it burst on
reaching the buildings, what seemed like a universal conflagration of
all that part of the town, accompanied by frightful detonations and
explosions, showed the effect it had produced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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