2 FEBRUARY 1991, Page 23

18th-century rockets

Sir: In the matter of observing rocket warfare, John Simpson CA different kind of war', 26 January) had a distinguished predecessor almost exactly 200 years ago. In Fuller's Decisive Battles of the Western World there is a description of the Valmy Campaign of 1792. A footnote reads:

Writing on August 31, Goethe mentions the use of rockets in the bombardment of Ver- dun. He writes: 'These tailed fire-meteors, we had only to observe quite quietly gliding through the air, and shortly afterwards a part of the town was seen in flames' (Campaign in France in the year 1792, trans. Robert Farie (1859), p.31.)

R.T. Smith

42 Church Road, Richmond, Surrey