But on the morning of May 26, 1915, eighteen French aeroplanes started at daybreak from a border stronghold and headed straight for Ludwigshafen. They had a supply of gasoline to last seven hours and rose to a height of 6,500 feet in order to escape detection. In this they did not succeed, but ran into several lively cannonades before reaching their destination. Once there, they circled above the big chemical works, dropping bomb after bomb. More than a ton of explosives were hurled upon the buildings in a quarter of an hour. Columns of smoke rose from the burning structures. Loud explosions issued from the smokestacks, sounding like the report of heavy guns. Workmen fled in all directions and the whole plant soon was wrapped in flames. The airmen lingered about for a short time, watching the results of their work. It became evident that the plant would be a total loss, and the flames spread to near-by buildings, for a time threatening a good part of the city. Swiss reports of a few days later said that upward of a hundred workmen lost their lives, that scores were hurt and the property loss ran well into the millions. The blow was severe, the heaviest up to that time which German industries, far from the battle front, had sustained. It revealed a new chapter of war in the air to communities which would be snugly secure under any other condition. On the return trip, ill fortune overtook the French flotilla. The machine of its commander found it necessary to make a landing. Chief of Squadron, De Goys, and Adjutant Bunau-Varilla were captured. They burned their aeroplane before being taken prisoners. CHAPTER III ZEPPELINS ATTACK LONDON--BATTLES IN THE AIR England's insularity disappeared on the night of May 31, 1915. The isolation by sea which had kept her immune from attack since the days of the Normans failed to save London from the Zeppelin. After ten months of war the British capital looked upon its dead for the first time. Four children, one woman, and one man were killed. An old apple woman died of fright. There were numerous fires, only three of which assumed serious proportions and these were extinguished by the fire department after a few hours. London's initial glimpse of a Zeppelin was obtained about 11.30 p. m., when the theatre section was filled with homeward bound throngs. The lights attracted the raiders to this district, where a half dozen bombs were dropped. No sooner had the first of the missiles fallen than antiaircraft guns began to open a bombardment from many directions. Searchlights mounted at advantageous points threw their narrow pencils of light into the skies. The people in different sections of the city caught a fleeting glance of a huge airship that floated sullenly along, like some bird of prey from out of the past--a new pterodactyl that instead of seizing its victims dropped death upon them.