In fact in the very earliest
days of the war, the British airships, though small and slow in
movement, proved more serviceable for this duty than their
dynamic consorts. This result was probably due to the fact that
military strategy and tactics were somewhat nonplussed by the
appearance of this new factor. At the time it was an entirely
unknown quantity. It is true that aircraft had been employed in
the Balkan and the Italo-Ottoman campaigns, but upon such a
limited scale as to afford no comprehensive idea of their
military value and possibilities.
The belligerents, therefore, were caught somewhat at a
disadvantage, and an appreciable period of time elapsed before
the significance of the aerial force could be appreciated, while
means of counter acting or nullifying its influences had to be
evolved simultaneously, and according to the exigencies of the
moment. At all events, the protagonists were somewhat loth to
utilise the dirigible upon an elaborate scale or in an
aggressive manner. It was employed more after the fashion of a
captive balloon, being sent aloft from a point well behind the
front lines of the force to which it was attached, and well out
of the range of hostile guns.
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