of this war romance--a tragic ending
to a war epic. Lieutenant Warneford was practicing with a new French
machine at Versailles. He either lost control or the motor failed him.
It dropped to earth, killing the pilot and an American newspaper
correspondent who was in the observer's seat. This sudden end to a
career so brilliant, the cutting off of a future so promising, cast a
pall over the minds of both the French and British airmen. The body of
Lieutenant Warneford lay in state at the French capital and afterward
in London, where every honor was shown his memory.

CHAPTER IV

VENICE ATTACKED--OTHER RAIDS

British airmen visited Ghent on June 8, 1915, where several ammunition
depots were fired. The railway station was hit and a number of German
troops in a train standing there killed or hurt.

On June 9, 1915, Venice was shelled by Austrian aviators, bombs
falling near St. Mark's and setting a number of fires. There were no
casualties as far as known.

An Italian airship squadron raided Pola, the principal Austrian naval
base, on June 14, 1915. Pola has one of the best harbors on the
Adriatic and is an exceptionally strong position. It was from there
that Austrian warships and aircraft made their attacks upon Italian
and other allied shipping. The city had a big arsenal and
miscellaneous war plants. The arsenal was struck by some of the bombs
dropped during this raid, shipping in the harbor was bombarded, and
one warship badly damaged. This was perhaps the most valuable
accomplishment of the Italian air service in offensive actions up to
that time. Contrary to what might be expected from the Latin
temperament, Italy had confined herself to the use of aircraft for
scouting purposes almost exclusively. The campaign in Tripoli had
taught her their value, and she had not shown a disposition to bombard
Austrian cities in reply to attacks upon her own people.

The visit of the Zeppelins to London had aroused not only the ire of
Britain, but that of her French allies. It was decided to take
reprisals. Forty-five French machines left the eastern border during
the night of June 15, 1915, and set their journey toward Karlsruhe.
Some of the craft were large battle planes; all of them had speed and
carrying capacity. Approaching Karlsruhe they at first were taken for
German machines, by reason of the location of Karlsruhe far from the
front.

The squadron divided and approached the city from a half dozen
different