What does "I realised with horror that I'd seen this awful thing before"refer to in Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds?

The full quote is:

Each carried a huge funnel [...] and I realised with horror that I’d seen
this awful thing before.

My understanding is that the "awful thing" he was referring to was the Heat Ray, which he had previously seen on Horsell Common, mentioned in the previous track #2; Horshell Common and the Heat Ray.

A tall funnel rose, then an invisible ray of heat leapt from man to
man and there was a bright glare, as each was instantly turned to
fire. Every tree and bush became a mass of flames at the touch of this
savage, unearthly Heat Ray.

For completeness, I should point out that this weapon it's also mentioned in the original text

A kind of arm carried a complicated metallic case, about which green
flashes scintillated, and out of the funnel of this there smoked the
Heat-Ray.