randon, R.F.C., succeeded in dropping several aerial bombs
on a Zeppelin during the raid on March 31, but it was not until six
months later that an airman succeeded in bringing down a Zeppelin on
British soil. The credit of repeating Lieutenant Warneford's great feat
belongs to Lieutenant W. R. Robinson, and the fight was witnessed by
a large gathering. It occurred in the very formidable air raid on the
night of September 2. Breathlessly the spectators watched the Zeppelin
harried by searchlight and shell-fire. Suddenly it disappeared behind
a veil of smoke which it had thrown out to baffle its pursuers. Then it
appeared again, and a loud shout went up from the watching thousands.
It was silhouetted against the night clouds in a faint line of fire. The
hue deepened, the glow spread all round, and the doomed airship began
its crash to earth in a smother of flame. The witnesses to this amazing
spectacle naturally supposed that a shell had struck the Zeppelin. Its
tiny assailant that had dealt the death-blow had been quite invisible
during the fight. Only on the following morning did the public learn of
Lieutenant Robinson's feat. It appeared that he had been in the air
a couple of hours, engaged in other conflicts with his monster foes.
Besides the V.C. the plucky airman won considerable money prizes from
citizens for destroying the first Zeppelin on British soil.

The Zeppelin raids continued at varying intervals for the remainder
of the year. As the power of the defence increased the air-ships were
forced to greater altitudes, with a corresponding decrease in the
accuracy with which they could aim bombs on specified objects. But,
however futile the raids, and however widely they missed their mark,
there was no falling off in the outrageous claims made in the German
communiques. Bombs dropped in fields, waste lands, and even the sea,
masqueraded in the reports as missiles which had sunk ships in harbour,
destroyed docks, and started fires in important military areas. So
persistent were these exaggerations that it became evident that the
Zeppelin raids were intended quite as much for moral effect at home as
for material damage abroad. The heartening effect of the raids upon
the German populace is evidenced by the mental attitude of men made
prisoners on any of the fronts. Only with the utmost difficulty were
their captors able to persuade them that London and other large towns
were not in ruins; that shipbuilding was not a