When launched from a height they strike the objective with
terrific force, and will readily penetrate a soldier's helmet and
skull. Indeed, when released at a height of 4,000 feet they have
been known to pierce a mounted soldier's head, and pass
vertically through his body and that of his horse also. Time
after time German soldiers have found themselves pinned to the
ground through the arrow striking and penetrating their feet.
Owing to the extremely light weight of the darts they can be
launched in batches of hundreds at a time, and in a promiscuous
manner when the objective is a massed body of infantry or
cavalry, or a transport convoy. They are extremely effective
when thrown among horses even from a comparatively low altitude,
not so much from the fatalities they produce, as from the fact
that they precipitate a stampede among the animals, which is
generally sufficiently serious and frantic to throw cavalry or a
transport-train into wild confusion.
Although aerial craft, when skilfully handled, have proved highly
successful as weapons of offence, the possibilities of such
aggression as yet are scarcely realised; aerial tactics are in
their infancy.
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