At the beginning of the 20th century, London was a city where you could barely see the green from the air, with countless white, gray and brown buildings crammed along the banks of the winding Thames, cobweb-like roads and railways, a large number of horse-drawn carriages and automobiles forming a slow flow of traffic, and outside the central city, factory chimneys and machines roaring, and the extremely prosperous industry gave the city the dream status of a world capital, and also made it like a dream in the mist and smoke......

Under the light gray clouds, two biplanes with thin fuselages and simple structures flew from east to west over London Bridge - it is the most downstream bridge of the Thames River in London, and its magnificent shape is majestic, and it is called "the main gate of London" by the British. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 InfoLondon Bridge is flanked by bustling urban areas, and less than 5 kilometres west of here is Buckingham Palace and Downing Street, the official residences of members of the British Empire's royal family and Prime Ministers.

The two aircraft, painted in light gray, each have a pontoon at the root of the wing and under the tail of the fuselage. Since the British army had made several sorties of water and land-based planes the previous day, when the two Junker 3-C water reconnaissance planes flew over central London at an altitude of 1,000 meters, they did not immediately cause panic among the British people. In fact, many people see them as SCHOTT seaplanes of the Royal Navy's Air Service, and even stop to look up at them soaring through the sky.

Unhindered, two German planes began dropping leaflets, and when they had dropped thousands of pieces of paper in the city centre and in the West End, the Royal Flying Corps stationed at the London military airport took off two Soprovises.

Picking up the leaflets falling from the air, the citizens of London seemed to be transformed into sculptures, and their expressions froze in place. The day before, the Harwich fleet had been devastated in the waters north of the Netherlands, and the official British war report portrayed the naval battle as "a heroic counterattack", claiming that two German capital ships had been severely damaged at the cost of several destroyers, and that the people were relieved by hope, and at the same time plagued by rumours that the Harwich fleet was powerless to fight and that the German fleet was about to enter the Thames estuary, and the whole of London was filled with a strange atmosphere of pretense of calm on the surface and panic on the inside. Now that German planes have appeared in the sky over London, dropping these pieces of paper with a psychological effect no less than bombs, they allude to the news of the German fleet's strong attack, and once this fear becomes a reality, no matter whether the task of the German fleet is to blockade or shell, it will be a great irony and humiliation to the empire that dominates the seas and runs rampant in the world.

With the arrival of the two British planes, the crisp sound of gunfire was soon heard in the sky, and the stunned Londoners finally reacted, and one by one they raised their heads and looked at the gray sky, watching the small and simple flying machines as small as toys chasing each other in the air, and then realized that the war was close to them.

Five years ago, when the Frenchman Blério became the first person to fly over the English Channel, there was a talk in the British newspapers about "vigilance against an air invasion", and some observers suggested to the British government that while maintaining naval superiority, it was necessary to build up an air force that was not inferior to that of any other country to resist possible attacks from the air, but the huge naval competition did not allow the British government to take care of anything else. At the outbreak of the war, the British army was equipped with the least number of aviation equipment among the three countries, and the technical level was also the weakest.

The soldiers and civilians of London watching the battle on the ground did not know that what was presented to them was the first official air battle in human history, and that the first party to fire was the British Royal Flying Corps - the British pilots on the two planes fired at enemy planes with revolvers and cavalry short guns, although the actual effect of such weapons was not much stronger than that of pikes and sabers, but this was the capital of Britain after all. As long as the bullet hit the German plane and caused it to malfunction, the German pilots, even if they were able to land safely, probably did not survive until the British police and soldiers arrived.

Although the gunfire from the British planes was harsh, the German pilots did not panic. In accordance with the instructions obtained before the sortie, and with the enemy aircraft taking the lead in attacking, the backseat observers of the two German reconnaissance planes took out their weapons for self-defense, modified Madsen light machine guns, and mounted them on movable mounts with unskillful movements, loaded their magazines, took aim, and opened fire.

With the crisp sound of gunshots, the history of human air combat suddenly took another step forward.

The Madsen light machine gun, also known as the Danish Type 1902 light machine gun, was the first mass-produced practical light machine gun. It has high shooting accuracy and reliable performance, and weighs only a quarter of a water-cooled heavy machine gun and two-fifths of an air-cooled heavy machine gun, and can reach a practical rate of fire of 250 rounds per minute. At the beginning of the 20th century, the biggest disadvantage of this automatic weapon was the high cost of production, which was associated with its small tolerance requirements, complex structure and excellent manufacture. Prior to the outbreak of World War I, many European countries had ordered their own standard-caliber Madsen machine guns from Denmark, and the German army imported 3,000 from Denmark, although it was determined that the German-made Maxim, or MG-08, water-cooled heavy machine gun, was used as the standard weapon.7 A light machine gun of 92 mm caliber and equipped with a curved magazine with a capacity of 30 rounds for the Guards Infantry, Cavalry, Mountain Troops and Marine Units.

The German army ordered a Madsen machine gun with an empty gun weighing 9. 6 kg, the effective range of 800 meters, and in order to carry it on the plane, the gunsmith shortened its barrel, replaced the relatively bulky butt with a two-handed grip, thereby reducing the weight to 9 kg, the actual rate of fire was adjusted to 200 rounds per minute, the effective range of 500 meters, although the combat indicators are lower than the standard model of the army, but it is more than enough to cope with the air combat in the embryonic stage.

In the skies over London, the first appearance of this simplified and modified Madsen air machine gun surprised the British. The barrage of bullets quickly hit a Thorpewis plane, the bullet hole was only a few centimeters away from the engine position, and the wounded British pilot hurriedly withdrew from the battle, he reluctantly piloted the plane to land in an open area in the east end of London, and seeing that his companion had suffered a loss, the other British plane did not dare to get too close, but waited for follow-up reinforcements.

In terms of absolute flight speed, the Junkers 3-C did not have an advantage, and the two German reconnaissance planes that ejected and took off from the light cruisers "Rostock" and "Cologne" turned sideways and shook off their opponents with light lateral maneuvers. After flying some distance, they began to lower their altitude, and found a touch of green on the west bank of the Thames in this dark-hued city, and continued to decrease in altitude as they circled, and finally skimmed low over the grey roof of Buckingham Palace, where the backseat observers again took out leaflets and threw them out, and the papers fell, a considerable part of which landed on the British royal palace.

King George V, who rushed back to London overnight, was standing in front of his office window and quietly watching the alternative snow scene outside. Because they flew very low, the roar of the engines of German planes was particularly noisy, but George V had nothing to do but endure it.

After about ten minutes, the German plane finally flew away. Tired-looking, the King pushed open the glass door of the balcony, bent down, and picked up a leaflet from the ground. The leaflets were the same as those that had been found in places such as Tyne and Harwich, in a simple and even rigid format, with accurate spelling and impeccable grammar, which was very much in line with the character of the Germans. However, instead of being arrogant and aggressive, the whole leaflet came across as being arrogant and aggressive, but very cleverly grasping the psychological weakness of ordinary Britons and making a big fuss about why Britain was involved in this war. Seeing that Germany has a tendency to dominate the European continent, it is not inappropriate for Britain to join forces with France and Russia to suppress Germany, and the key lies in its direct participation in the war -- if the British Navy can maintain blockade and suppression of Germany, it is natural to participate in the war, but now the German Navy has reversed the situation in one fell swoop, and in turn has forced Britain into a deep predicament of the homeland crisis, and participating in the war has naturally become a big problem of recovering responsibility!

Before the two German reconnaissance planes left London on their own to end this embarrassing farce, Prime Minister Asquith, War Secretary Lord Kitchener, Admiral Winston Churchill, and Lord Charles Douglas, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, arrived at Buckingham Palace.

George V immediately summoned these four men who played a pivotal role in Britain's wartime system.

"Will we be able to withstand the attack of the German Navy?" George V asked in a deep tone.

The Channel Fleet was engaged in a firefight with the German fleet, and Churchill had just received the news, and he did not know how the battle was going, and it was difficult to talk about it.

George V, who did not know what was going on, watched from the window as the palace attendants picked up German leaflets on the lawn, and sighed with sorrow: "How ironic it is that about two weeks ago, in this office, we were still debating whether to adopt an offshore blockade of Germany, and now we are faced with the possibility of a German fleet coming to blockade the mouth of the Thames!" ”

"The Germans have captured Liège." Sir Douglas tilted his head and said, "The Germans in Belgium are like a colony of man-eating ants in the jungle of South America, where death is everywhere they go." French pilots reported that millions of German troops were advancing along the Maas River valley toward Namur through fields, roads, villages and towns, unhindered by rivers or other obstacles...... Before Russia gathered its troops to attack, the situation was unfavorable for our side. ”

Asquith smiled bitterly: "Originally, only the French pinned their hopes on the Russians, but now it seems that only a large Russian army has the ability to defeat the Germans." As long as they captured East Prussia from the east and advanced on Berlin, no matter how brave the German navy was, it would be useless. ”

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was George V's cousin, and the two had a good personal relationship, but this did not change George V's view of the Russian army - the ills of decay, backwardness, rigidity, and sloppiness were vividly manifested in the Russo-Japanese War, and in the decade after the Russo-Japanese War, there was no sign that the army had been reborn.

"If the French army cannot withstand the German attack, then we ......"

At this point of George V's words, War Secretary Kitchener suddenly interjected: "In my opinion, the French army has not been doing well lately, mainly because they have not fought for more than forty years, and the officers and soldiers are vengeful, but they are in awe of the strength of the German army." Judging by the personnel adjustments of the French army, they are trying to adapt to the rhythm and pattern of this war, and the turning point of the battle will not be long in coming...... Maybe it's at the end of summer and autumn is coming, maybe it's in Paris, maybe it's on the Marne...... Even if we can't send more expeditionary forces to France, at least wait patiently for a while. ”

The crowd was speechless until Prime Minister Asquith broke the silence: "I have to say that the taste of waiting in torment is very unpleasant - for us, for the officers and soldiers of the army, and for ordinary people. ”

(End of chapter)