Although the point is proved, a few more examples of the “airmen” legend will be of interest.  “Berlin, August 2nd. Last night a hostile airship was observed flying from Kerprich to Andernach.  Hostile aeroplanes were observed flying from Dueren to Cologne.  A French aeroplane was shot down by Wesel.” (From the Muenchen-Augsburger Abendzeitung, August 3rd.)

The Frankfurter Zeitung, August 4th, contains three separate detailed accounts of French airmen dropping bombs on Frankfort railway station during the previous night.  The third account will suffice.

“The military authorities in Frankfort were informed last night that a hostile airman was flying in the direction from Darmstadt to Frankfort.  At ten minutes past one the noise of the propellers as well as bursting bombs was heard by those standing on the command-bridge of the Central Station.  In the dark night it was impossible to see the flying-machine.  As it approached the station, where all lights were out, fifty to sixty soldiers stationed on the command-bridge fired at the aeroplane, which soon moved off in the direction of the Southern Station.  There, too, it came under a heavy fire from soldiers and policemen.  Nothing whatever has been found on the ground or at the station, not even parts of the bombs.  It is assumed that the hand-bombs exploded in the air."[26]

[Footnote 26:  Yes, they burst in the air, aus der sie gegriffen worden sind! Author.]

In peace times no German editor would dare to refuse any contribution sent to him by the military authorities.  The above airman-story sufficiently illustrates the state of affairs in war time.

“Chemnitz, August 4th.  During the past night, between 3 and 4 a.m., a French airman dropped bombs on Chemnitz.  Bombs exploded in the streets without, however, doing any damage.  Apparently the shots fired at the aeroplane were unfortunately without result.” Magdeburgische Zeitung, August 5th.

This is an excellent example of how the Press trick is worked.  A lying report is published in a city hundreds of miles away from the scene of the alleged occurrence.  The extract where it was alleged that a French airman was shot down at Wesel, on the Dutch frontier, was published in a Munich paper, four hundred miles away.

The last and supreme lie in Bethmann-Hollweg’s speech is the most insidious of all.  The Chancellor sketched a truly moving picture of Germany beseeching Austria to find a modus vivendi between herself and Russia.  Germany claims that up to the last minute of the last fatal week she was working for peace.  Bethmann-Hollweg insinuates that on July 31st a last decision was to have fallen in Vienna; he does not tell us what that decision would have been, but he maintains that Russia’s military preparations forestalled it and so the decision was never arrived at.  Thus Russia destroyed the last hope of peace; the Chancellor falsely led his hearers to believe that it was a certain hope and that the European peace would have been saved.