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diff --git a/30011-h/30011-h.htm b/30011-h/30011-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0c942b --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/30011-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2676 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of An Aviator's Field Book, by Oswald Bölcke. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3 {text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + td {vertical-align: bottom;} + + hr.large {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.medium {width: 30%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: #D3D3D3;} + + div.centered {text-align:center;} /*work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:left;} /* work around for IE problem part 2 */ + + body{margin-left: 18%; + margin-right: 18%;} + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 87%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .gap {margin-top: 1.5em;} + .smallgap {margin-top: 1em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .right {text-align: right;} + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + .jpg {border: solid 1px black; + padding: 0.25em;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30011 ***</div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<h1>AN AVIATOR’S<br /> +FIELD BOOK</h1> + +<p class="center"><i>Being the Field Reports of Oswald Bölcke,<br /> +from August 1, 1914, to October 28, 1916</i></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Translated from the German by</span></p> + +<p class="center">ROBERT REYNOLD HIRSCH, M.E.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">With a Foreword by</span></p> + +<p class="center">JOSEPH E. RIDDER, M.E.</p> + +<p class="gap"> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 133px;"> +<img src="images/i005.jpg" width="133" height="75" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="gap"> </p> + +<p class="center">1917<br /> +NATIONAL MILITARY PUBLISHING CO.<br /> +1919 BROADWAY, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 310px;"><a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a> +<img src="images/i004.jpg" class="jpg" width="310" height="500" alt="Colonel Oswald Bölcke’s Last Picture" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Colonel Oswald Bölcke’s Last Picture</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="left">FOREWORD</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#FOREWORD">11</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">INTRODUCTION</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">16</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR TO<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE FIRST VICTORY</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#FROM_THE_BEGINNING_OF_THE_WAR_TO_THE_FIRST_VICTORY">31</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">PILOT OF A BATTLEPLANE</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#PILOT_OF_A_BATTLEPLANE">59</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">LEAVE OF ABSENCE</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#LEAVE_OF_ABSENCE">131</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">TO THE FORTIETH VICTORY</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#TO_THE_FORTIETH_VICTORY">180</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS"> + +<tr> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right">FACING<br />PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Colonel Oswald Bölcke’s Last Picture</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">After His First Victory</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo1">32</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The Enemy’s Aeroplane in Ruins</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo2">33</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The Master-Flier and His Men</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo3">64</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Bölcke and His Brother Wilhelm,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">September, 1914</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo4">65</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Donning His Flying Dress</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo5">96</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">An Aviator Bombarded with<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shrapnel</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo6">97</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Among His Comrades</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo7">144</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">German Marine Aviators on a<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Field Near the North Sea</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo8">145</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Ready for the Start</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo9">160</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Bölcke and His Brother Max in<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">France (August, 1916)</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo10">161</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">One of His Last Victims</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo11">182</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Starting on His Last Ride, October<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">28, 1916—5 <span class="smcap">p. m.</span></span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Illo12">183</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="FOREWORD" id="FOREWORD"></a>FOREWORD</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Joseph E. Ridder</span></h3> + +<p>An unassuming book, still one of those which grip the reader from +beginning to end. When the author started to write his daily +impressions and adventures, it was to keep in touch with his people, +to quiet those who feared for his safety every moment, and at the same +time to give them a clear idea of his life. Without boasting, modestly +and naturally, he describes the adventures of an aviator in the great +World War. It could well serve as a guide to those who are studying +aviation. Although he has avoided the stilted tone of the +school-master, still his accomplishments as a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>knight of the air must +fascinate any who know aviation. For the aviators as well as their +machines have accomplished wonders. They are rightly called the eyes +of the army—these iron-nerved boys who know no fear. Admiral Schley’s +historic words after the battle of Santiago: “There will be honor +enough for us all” can well be said of the aviators of all nations now +at war. For in spite of all enmity the aviators have followed the +knightly code of old which respects a good opponent and honors him. +Captain Bölcke’s death, after his meteoric career, was mourned alike +by friend and foe. Great as is the damage done by this war, horrible +as is its devastation, it has acted as a tonic on aviation. Before the +war, of course, there had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>been some achievements of note. Since the +day when the Wright brothers announced their conquest of the air, man +did not rest till the problem was completely solved. And this war, +which continually has spurred man to new murderous inventions, has +also seen the airplane in action. While at the start of the war the +comparatively few airplanes in use were employed as scouts, a few +months saw them fitted with machine guns and devices for dropping +explosives. Hand in hand with this came the rapid development of the +airplane itself. To-day we can truthfully say that a journey, even a +long one, by airplane is less dangerous than an automobile ride +through a densely populated district. But one thing we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>must not +forget, even though the invention of the airplane by the Wrights is an +American one (in spite of the fact that the Wrights give some credit +to the German Lilienthal) the Europeans have far outstripped us in the +development of this invention. As sad as it is to say it, we must +admit that in regard to aviation America is still in its infancy. +Every European nation has outdone us. When, in the summer of 1916, we +sent our troops to Mexico, they had only six old machines at their +disposal. Instead of relying on these for information, General +Pershing had nothing but anxiety for their safety every time they made +a flight. But here, too, if all signs are not deceiving, war has +helped us to awake. Aside from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>activity in our training-schools +where thousands of our young men, surpassed by none anywhere, are +being trained, the building of our airplanes is taking a great step +forward. The experience gained on the other side is helping us here. +At first it was the automobile factory that furnished the satisfactory +motor. But now through the war the airplane factories have made +enormous progress and helped the aviator to attain new marks in speed, +reliability and endurance. While this war lasts every improvement in +the airplane is utilized to make added destruction. Yet we can not +doubt that after the war we will see further progress made in the +airplane in the peaceful contests which are to follow.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 16-9]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Prof. Hermann Bölcke, Dessau</span></h3> + +<p>Oswald Bölcke was born on the 19th of May, 1891, in Giebichenstein, a +suburb of Halle on the Saale. Here his father was professor in the +high school. His sister, Luise, and his two brothers, Wilhelm and +Heinrich, were born before him in Buenos Ayres, Argentina. There his +father had had his first position—rector of the German Lutheran +School. Later, Oswald’s brother Martin was born in Halle and his +brother Max in Dessau. Oswald was the first child born to the Bölcke’s +in Germany. On the 17th of July, the wedding-day anniversary of his +parents, he was baptized <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>by his uncle, the Rev. Edmund Hartung. +This occurred during a vacation spent at his grandmother’s, at +Freyburg-on-the-Unstrut, in the same church in which his mother had +been baptized, confirmed and married, by the same minister. After a +year the family moved to Halle, where he could romp joyously on the +Viktoria-platz with his two older brothers and his sister.</p> + +<p>At the age of four and a half years he moved to Dessau, in 1895, where +his father had received a position as professor in the Antoinette +School, connected with a teachers’ seminary. He had another year and a +half of joyous play in this city. Then he was sent to school, and he +owed his education to the Friedrichs gymnasium <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>at Dessau, from which +he graduated in the Easter of 1911. When he was three years old he had +had a severe attack of whooping-cough. This had left a strong tendency +to asthma, and was the cause of much trouble at school through +illness. In fact, it was a weakness that plagued him with continual +colds even to the last few weeks of his life. While still only a +youth, he fought this weakness by practising long-distance running, +and in 1913 he won second prize in the Army Marathon at Frankfurt. +Aside from this, he was perfectly healthy and was always exercising to +keep himself so. In his boyhood he learned how to swim while resting +on the hands of his father, who was holding him in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>waters of the +Mulde River. In a few moments, to the amazement of the spectators, he +was paddling around in the water like a duck. This is an example of +his courage and self-confidence. In the same way he rapidly developed +into a skilled, fearless mountain climber under the tuition of his +father, when, as a seventeen-year-old boy, he was first taken on such +trips. In the Tux district trips were taken from Lauersbach, and the +more difficult the climb the more it pleased Oswald. Only when there +was real danger was there any joy for him. His mother will never +forget the time she witnessed his climbing of the Höllenstein. She was +on the lower Krieralpe watching. When it was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>time to descend he, +taking huge strides, fairly ran down the slope covered with loose +slabs of stone and waited, standing on his head, for his more cautious +father and his brother Martin.</p> + +<p>His principal, Dr. Wiehmann, said in the words he spoke at Oswald’s +burial: “He had no mind for books or things studious; in him there +burned the desire for action. He was energetic, dynamic, and needed to +use his bodily vigor. Rowing, swimming, diving (in which he won prizes +as a schoolboy), ball games of all kinds, and gymnastics, he choose +as his favorite occupations before he entered his profession as a +soldier.” He might also have added skating and dancing, for he was a +very graceful <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>dancer. His favorite studies were History, Mathematics +and Physics. Treitschke’s Works and the reports of the General Staff +were the books he said he liked best to read. So he was attracted by +the military life while still young. Before even his eldest brother +thought of it, Oswald wrote him that he yearned to become an officer. +In order to fulfil this desire, he decided while still in the third +year of school to write to His Majesty the Kaiser that he would like +to be an officer, and ask for admission to a cadet school. His parents +did not learn of this till his wish was granted, and though putting no +obstacles in his path, decided it was better that he finish his +schooling before breaking away <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>from “home life.” After this, his +parents let him join the Telegraphers’ Battalion No. 3, at Koblenz, as +color guard. They had full confidence in him and his strength of +character, and let him leave home with no misgivings. Thanks to his +fine physical condition and his enthusiasm, the King’s service in the +beautiful country of the Rhine and the Moselle was a joy to him. Here +he spent many pleasant years, rich in friendship and making ever +stronger the family ties. After finishing his schooling as a soldier, +he returned to Koblenz from Metz and in the fall was commissioned as a +lieutenant.</p> + +<p>In this summer he and his brother Martin had the adventure on the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>Heiterwand, in the Lechtal Alps, which many heard of. He and his +brother, in consequence of a heavy fog, lost their way during a +difficult climb and after wandering for a day and a night, were +rescued by the heroic sacrifices of Romanus Walch, an engineer, and +several guides. It was his love for his parents that made him take the +way which was impassable except in a few spots, instead of taking the +easier south way. On that day, July 26th, his father was to have +charge of the opening celebrations at the Anhalt Shelter, situated on +the northern face of the Heiterwand. He felt he had to take the +shorter, more difficult route so as not to keep his father in suspense +on the day of the festivities. Even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>if he did not spare his parents +this anxiety, still he and his brother arrived shortly after the +celebrations, in tattered clothes but fresh and shouting in spite of +the strain and lack of food.</p> + +<p>He wrote with great satisfaction of his work with the telephone +division and later with the wireless division. Especially he liked his +work in the Taunus, the Odenwald and the Eiffel, with its varying, +beautiful scenery which pleased the nature-lover in him. Service with +the wireless took him to Darmstadt with a battalion from Koblenz, and +it was there that he first came into contact with the aviation corps. +They had a school there on the parade grounds. He silently planned to +join them, but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>not till June, 1914, was he able to attain his heart’s +desire, when he was transferred to the school at Halberstadt. In six +weeks his training was completed, and on the day before the +mobilization he passed his final examination. On August 1st, on his +way to Darmstadt, where he was ordered, he visited his parents in +Dessau for an hour. After they had pushed through the throng around +the station to a quiet nook inside, he made a confession to them. He +had not been in the wireless service at Halberstadt, as they had +thought, but had instead been getting his training as an aviator. He +had kept this from them so that he should not spoil their vacation in +the Alps at Hinter-Tux. This loving care was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>remembered in this +stirring moment and he was forgiven. Still they could not help being +frightened at the dangerous work he had chosen; his brother Wilhelm +had already joined the aviation corps of the German army as observer. +But in the face of the tremendous happenings of those days, personal +care and sorrow had to be forgotten. So they parted with him, +commending him to the care of God, who rules the air as well as the +earth.</p> + +<p>Though eager to be off to war, he had to be content with staying in +Darmstadt and Trier with the reserves. Finally, on the 1st of +September, he was allowed to fly from Trier to the enemy’s country. +His objective was Sedan. On the way, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>he landed in Montmedy to visit +his brother Wilhelm, who was an observer with the aviation section +stationed there. He was ordered to stay there for a time, and had the +great satisfaction of being united with his brother, for the division +commander ordered him to report to his troop. So the brothers had the +good luck to be fighting almost shoulder to shoulder in the Argonnes +and the Champagne. If it was possible, they were both in the same +machine: Wilhelm as observer, Oswald as pilot. Each knew he could +trust the other implicitly. So they were of one heart and one soul in +meeting the thousand and one dangers of their daily tasks.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 31-3]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="FROM_THE_BEGINNING_OF_THE_WAR_TO_THE_FIRST_VICTORY" id="FROM_THE_BEGINNING_OF_THE_WAR_TO_THE_FIRST_VICTORY"></a>FROM THE BEGINNING OF<br /> +THE WAR TO THE FIRST<br /> +VICTORY</h2> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Halberstadt, August 1, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Where I will be sent from here, I cannot say as yet. My old +mobilization orders commanded me to report to a reconnoitering +squadron in the first line, as commander. But these have been +countermanded, and I do not know anything about my destination. I +expect to get telegraphic orders to-day or to-morrow.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Illo1" id="Illo1"></a> +<img src="images/i033.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="500" height="381" alt="After his First Victory" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">After his First Victory</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Illo2" id="Illo2"></a> +<img src="images/i034.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="500" height="380" alt="The Enemy’s Aeroplane in Ruins" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">The Enemy’s Aeroplane in Ruins</span> +</div> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Darmstadt, August 3, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Arrived here safe and sound after a slight detour <i>via</i> Cologne. I am +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>very glad that I can spend to-day and to-morrow with B. and my other +old friends. Then they go, and only poor I must stay with the Reserve. +I think that we will get our turn, too, in two weeks.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Trier, August 29, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Arrived here safely. Myself drove a 30 horsepower Opel <i>via</i> Koblenz. +Wonderful auto ride!</p> + +<p>I managed to get time to pass my third examination in Darmstadt before +I left.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">F., September 3, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Started last night with a non-commissioned officer at six o’clock and +landed here safely at seven. It was a very pretty flight.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">Ch., September 4, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Have been here with the division for two days. As I had no observer +along, Wilhelm has commandeered me. Of course, I like to fly best with +Wilhelm, since he has the best judgment and practical experience. As +he already knows the country fairly well, he doesn’t need a map at all +to set his course. We flew over the enemy’s positions for about an +hour and a half at a height of two thousand eight hundred meters, till +Wilhelm had spotted everything. Then we made a quick return. He had +found the position of all the enemy’s artillery. As a result of his +reports, the first shots fired struck home.</p> + +<p>When I reached the aviation field <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>the next afternoon two of the +planes had already left; Wilhelm also. For me there were written +orders to locate the enemy at certain points. At my machine I found +the non-commissioned officer who had come with me from Trier; he said +he was to go up with me. This seemed odd to me, because I really +should have been flying with Wilhelm. I got in and went off with him, +since I knew the country from my first flight. We had quite a distance +to fly and were under way two and a half hours. I flew over the +designated roads that ran through past the Argonne Forest, and with a +red pencil marked on the map wherever I saw anything. Above T., at a +height of two thousand five hundred meters, we were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>under heavy fire. +I was rather uncomfortable. To the right, below us, we saw little +clouds pop up; then a few to the right and left of us. This was the +smoke of the bursting artillery shells. Now, I think nothing about +such things. They never hit as long as you fly over 2,500 meters high, +as we do.</p> + +<p>At 7:10 I landed safely here at our camp. And what was the thanks I +got for having sailed around over the enemy’s lines for over two and a +half hours? I got a “call down.” I had hardly shut off my engine when +Wilhelm came racing over to me. “Where were you? What have you been +doing? Are you crazy? You are not to fly without my permission! You’re +not to go up unless <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>I am along.” And more of the same stuff. Only +after I had given my word to do as he asked, would he let me alone.</p> + +<p>Wednesday evening we had a fine surprise: two of our “missing” +returned. They had been forced to land behind the enemy’s line because +their motor had stopped. They were hardly down when the “Pisangs” +(French peasants) came running toward them from every direction. They +managed to get into a nearby woods by beating a hasty retreat. Behind +them they heard the yelling of the men and women. The woods was +surrounded, and they had to hide till night fell. Then they escaped +into the Argonne Forest, under cover of darkness although fired <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>on a +number of times. Here they spent five days, avoiding French troops. +As they had only berries and roots to eat, and could only travel at +night, they were almost ready to surrender. But on the morning of the +seventh day they heard someone say, in German, “Get on the job, you +fool.” Those were sweet words to them, for it was a scouting party of +German Dragoons. Thus, they got back to us.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">M., September 10, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Yesterday I went along to the light artillery positions, and from +there had a good view of the battlefield. There really was nothing to +see. There were no large bodies of soldiers, only here and there a +rider or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>a civilian. The only thing you could see was the smoke from +bursting shells and the burning villages all about. But if there was +nothing to see, there certainly was plenty to hear—the dull noise of +the light artillery, the sharp crash of the field pieces and the +crackling of small arms. On the way we passed an encampment of +reserves. It was a scene exactly like one during the annual +manœuvers; some were cooking, some strolling about, but most of +them loafed around on their backs, not paying any attention to the +battle at all.</p> + +<p>At 5:30 we went up. Now I had a chance to see from the air the same +scene I had just beheld from the ground. There was still heavy firing; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>as far as the eye could see villages were burning. At 7:30 we were +down again.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">B., September 16, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Last night three of us tried to take some observations, but all had to +come back, as the clouds were too heavy. This morning it was my turn +to go up, but it was raining. We have to have the fires going to keep +our quarters warm. Next to me a log-fire is burning merrily. My back +is baked to a crisp. When my one side gets too hot, I have to turn to +give the other a chance to roast. Later some of the telegraphers are +coming over and we are going to play “Schafskopf” (a German card +game). <i>C’est la guerre!</i></p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span><span class="smcap">B., October 12, 1914</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>This evening I received the Iron Cross.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">B., October 25, 1914</span></p> + +<p>For weeks the weather has been so foggy that we began to consider +ourselves as good as retired. But three days ago it began to become +bearable again. We took good advantage of it. We were in our machines +early in the morning and “worked” till 5:30 at night. I made five +flights to-day. First, Wilhelm, as the observer, did some scout work, +and later did some range-finding for the artillery. We had agreed that +we were to fly above the enemy’s positions and then the artillery was +to fire. Then it was Wilhelm’s <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>duty, as observer, to see where the +shells struck and signal to our artillery, with colored lights, if the +shots fell short, beyond, to right or left, of the mark. This we do +until our gunners find the range. On the 22d, as a result of this, we +destroyed one of the enemy’s batteries. The next day we wiped out +three in three and a half hours. This sort of flying is very trying to +observer and pilot alike, as both have to be paying constant attention +to business.</p> + +<p>Yesterday Wilhelm was at headquarters, and returned with the Iron +Cross of the First Class. He has covered a total distance of 6,500 +kilometers over the enemy’s soil, while I have covered 3,400.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">October 27, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Wilhelm has discovered nine of the enemy’s batteries south of M. and +southeast of Rheims, among them being one right next to the cathedral!</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">November 5, 1914</span></p> + +<p>As the weather is very poor for flights in mid-day, we do most of our +flying right after sunrise, about 7:30. Things began to liven up at +different points to-day. Our friend, the enemy, had to be taken down a +peg, again. Shortly after 7:30 we started. Everything went well, so +that we were back in an hour. Then we payed another visit to our +artillery. We now fly for four of our batteries, and they only fire +when we give them the range. Whenever they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>have a target, it is +destroyed at the first opportunity. So we made two more flights +to-day, therefore, a total of three, and put four enemy batteries out +of action. We are doing things wholesale now.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">November 10, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Wilhelm has now flown a distance of 9,400, I 7,300, kilometers over +enemy soil.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Letter of November 15, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Mother doesn’t need to be afraid that continual flying will affect our +nerves. The very opposite is more probable. We get most impatient if +we are kept idle a few days because of poor weather. We stand around +looking out of the window to see if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>it isn’t clearing up. Nerves can +be the excuse for almost anything, I guess.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">B., November 30, 1914</span></p> + +<p>I did not get the Fokker as yet. I was to get it at R., Thursday. Too +bad. To fly for the artillery, which is our main work just now, the +Fokker is very excellent, because of its speed, stability and ease of +control. A new machine has been ordered for me at the factory, but I +cannot say if I am going to get it, and when.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">P., December 9, 1914</span></p> + +<p>Bad weather. No important work. Now, we ought to be in the East, where +there is something doing.</p> + +<p>Yesterday I was in R. and got my Fokker, which had arrived in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>meantime. It is a small monoplane, with a French rotary engine in +front; it is about half as large as a Taube. This is the last modern +machine which I have learned to fly; now I can fly all the types we +make in Germany. The Fokker was my big Christmas present. I now have +two machines: the large biplane for long flights and the small Fokker +for range finding. This ’plane flies wonderfully and is very easy to +handle. Now my two children are resting together in a tent, the little +one in a hollow, with its tail under the plane of the big one.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">P., January 21, 1915</span></p> + +<p>Since Christmas we have made the following flights: December 24th, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>an +hour and a half; December 25th, one hour; December 30th, one hour; +January 6th, one hour; January 12th, four hours; January 18th, two +hours. It was poor weather, so we could not do more than this. There +isn’t much use in flying now, anyhow, as long as we do not want to +advance. We are facing each other here for months, and each side knows +the other’s position exactly. Changes of position, flanking movements, +and bringing up of strong reserves, as in open warfare, is a thing of +the past when we stick to the trenches, so there is nothing to report. +There would be some sense in flying to find the range, but as we do +not want to advance at present our artillery does very little <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>firing. +It is sufficient at this stage that an airplane takes a peep over the +line once in a while, to see if everything is still as they left it.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">P., January 27, 1915</span></p> + +<p>This morning our Captain gave K. and me the Iron Cross of the First +Class.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">P., April 25, 1915</span></p> + +<p>To-morrow I leave here; I have been transferred to the —— Flying +Squadron, which is just being established. To-morrow I go to Berlin to +report at the inspection of aviators.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">P., May 16, 1915</span></p> + +<p>Safely back in P. The trip was made in comparatively quick time.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">P., May 17, 1915</span></p> + +<p>We had to leave here this afternoon, after we had hardly arrived. I am +very glad. New scenery and something doing.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">D., May 22, 1915</span></p> + +<p>I had hoped to have plenty to do here, but the weather cancelled our +plans. We had plenty of time to establish ourselves, assemble our +machines and tune them up with a few flights.</p> + +<p>The city is entirely unharmed and the greater part of the inhabitants +are still here. The city gives an impression similar to Zerbst—a +modern section with cottages and an old section with older houses: the +city hall, remains of the old city wall, and so-forth. The inhabitants +are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>prosperous. All the stores, hotels, coffee-houses and cafés are +open. Every day two of my friends (Immelmann and Lieutenant P.) and I +go to one of these coffee-houses.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">D., May 25, 1915</span></p> + +<p>By chance, I witnessed a great military spectacle. As I did not have +to fly in the afternoon, I went to the artillery observer’s post with +our Captain. About four o’clock we reached V.; from here we had +another half hour’s walk ahead of us. From a distance we could see +there was heavy firing going on. The Major, in the company’s +bomb-proof, told us that the artillery would hardly have time now to +avail themselves of airplanes to find the range for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>them. The French +were just at the time trying to get revenge for an attack we made the +day before, and the artillery was very busy. From there we went to the +observer’s post and were very lucky. Our batteries were just firing at +the enemy’s, our airplanes finding the range for them. Suddenly the +non-commissioned officer at the double-periscope yelled over to +us that the French were bringing up reinforcements through the +communicating trenches. The Lieutenant of Artillery ran over to the +field artillery and showed them the beautiful target. Soon after that +a few of our shrapnel burst over these positions. Bang! And the enemy +was gone. Suddenly a ball of red fire appeared in the first <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>French +trench. This meant—shells fall ahead of trenches; place shots further +back. Just then, over a front of one and a half kilometers, a whole +brigade of Frenchmen rose from the trenches, shoulder to shoulder, a +thing I had never seen before. We have to admire them for their +courage. In front, the officers about four or five steps in the lead; +behind them, in a dense line, the men, partly negroes, whom we could +recognize by their baggy trousers. The whole line moved on a run. For +the first four hundred meters (in all they had seven hundred meters to +cover) we let them come without firing. Then we let them have our +first shrapnel. As the artillery knew the exact range, the first shots +were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>effective. Then came the heavier shells. We now opened a +murderous fire; it was so loud that we could not hear each other at +two paces. Again and again our shells struck the dense masses and tore +huge gaps in them, but, in spite of this, the attack continued. The +gaps were always quickly closed. Now our infantry took a hand. Our men +stood up in the trenches, exposed from the hips up, and fired like +madmen. After three or four minutes the attack slackened in spots; +that is, parts of the line advanced, others could not. After a quarter +of an hour the French on our left wing, which I could see, reached our +trenches, shot and stabbed from above, and finally jumped in. Now we +could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>plainly see the hand-to-hand combat: heads bobbing back and +forth, guns clubbed (they seemed to be only trying to hit, not kill), +glistening bayonets, and a general commotion. On the right wing, +things progressed slower, almost at a standstill. In the middle a +group jumped forward now and then, and into them the artillery fired +with telling effect. We could see men running wildly about, they could +not escape our artillery fire. The whole slope was strewn with bodies. +After about a quarter of an hour the Frenchmen started to retreat. +First one, then two, then three, came out of our trenches, looked all +around, and started for their own trenches. In the meantime more +troops came up from the rear. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>after the first few started to run +more came out of the trenches, until finally all were out and +retreating. Our men also got out to be able to fire at the retreating +enemy to better advantage. Again and again the French officers tried +to close up their ranks, rally their men, and lead them anew to the +attack.</p> + +<p>But in vain, for more and more sought safety in flight. Many +dropped—I think more than in the advance. In the center, the French +had advanced to within fifty meters of us, and could get no closer. As +the retreat started on the left, some in the center also lost heart, +and fled like frightened chickens. But almost all were killed. I +saw six running away when a shell exploded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>near them. The smoke +disappeared; there were only four left. A second shell, and only one +was left. He was probably hit by the infantry. The following proves +how completely we repelled their attack: Four Frenchmen rose, waved +their arms and ran toward our trench. Two of them carried a severely +wounded comrade. Suddenly they dropped their burden and ran faster +toward us. Probably their comrades had fired on them. Hardly were +these four in our trenches when fifty more of them got up, waved their +caps and ran toward us. But the Frenchmen didn’t like this, and in a +second four well-placed shells burst between them and us; probably +they were afraid that there would be a general surrender <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>on the part +of their men. The retreat was now general. At 6:15 the main battle was +over. Afterward we could see here and there a few Frenchmen running or +crawling to their trench.</p> + +<p>I was very glad I had the opportunity to see this. From above, we +aviators don’t see such things.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 59-61]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PILOT_OF_A_BATTLEPLANE" id="PILOT_OF_A_BATTLEPLANE"></a>PILOT OF A BATTLEPLANE</h2> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">D., June 24, 1915</span></p> + +<p>Yesterday the Crown Prince of Bavaria, our chief, inspected our camp. +Here we have gathered samples of about everything that our knowledge +of aviation has developed: Two airplane squadrons and one battleplane +division. Both airplane squadrons are equipped with the usual +biplanes, only we have an improvement: the wireless, by means of which +we direct the fire of our artillery. The battleplane squadron is here +because there is a lot to do at present on this front (the West). +Among them there are some unique machines, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>example: a great +battleplane with two motors: for three passengers, and equipped with a +bomb-dropping apparatus—it is a huge apparatus. Outside of this, +there are other battleplanes with machine guns. They are a little +larger than the usual run. Then there are some small Fokker +monoplanes, also with machine guns. So we have everything the heart +can desire. The squadron has only made one flight, but since then the +French haven’t been over here. I guess something must have proved an +eye-opener to them.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">June 30, 1915</span></p> + +<p>Rain, almost continuously, since the 22d. I am absolutely sick of this +loafing.</p> + +<p>Since June 14th, I have a battleplane <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>of my own: a biplane, with +150-horsepower motor. The pilot sits in front; the observer behind +him, operating the machine gun, which can be fired to either side and +to the rear. As the French are trying to hinder our aerial observation +by means of battleplanes, we now have to protect our division while it +flies. When the others are doing range-finding, I go up with them, fly +about in their vicinity, observe with them and protect them from +attack. If a Frenchman wants to attack them, then I make a hawk-like +attack on him, while those who are observing go on unhindered in their +flight. I chase the Frenchman away by flying toward him and firing at +him with the machine gun. It is beautiful to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>see them run from me; +they always do this as quick as possible. In this way, I have chased +away over a dozen.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Illo3" id="Illo3"></a> +<img src="images/i067.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="500" height="380" alt="The Master-Flier and His Men" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">The Master-Flier and His Men</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Illo4" id="Illo4"></a> +<img src="images/i068.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="500" height="384" alt="Bölcke and His Brother Wilhelm, September, 1914" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Bölcke and His Brother Wilhelm, September, 1914</span> +</div> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 6, 1915</span></p> + +<p>I succeeded in carrying a battle through to complete victory Sunday +morning. I was ordered to protect Lieutenant P., who was out +range-finding, from enemy ’planes. We were just on our way to the +front, when I saw a French monoplane, at a greater height, coming +toward us. As the higher ’plane has the advantage, we turned away; he +didn’t see us, but flew on over our lines. We were very glad, because +lately the French hate to fly over our lines. When over our ground the +enemy cannot escape by volplaning to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>earth. As soon as he had passed us we took up the pursuit. Still he +flew very rapidly, and it took us half an hour till we caught up with +him at V. As it seems, he did not see us till late. Close to V. we +started to attack him, I always heading him off. As soon as we were +close enough my observer started to pepper him with the machine gun. +He defended himself as well as he could, but we were always the +aggressor, he having to protect himself. Luckily, we were faster than +he, so he could not flee from us by turning. We were higher and +faster; he below us and slower, so that he could not escape. By all +kinds of manœuvers he tried to increase the distance between us; +without success, for I was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>always close on him. It was glorious. I +always stuck to him so that my observer could fire at close range. We +could plainly see everything on our opponent’s monoplane, almost every +wire, in fact. The average distance between us was a hundred meters; +often we were within thirty meters, for at such high speeds you cannot +expect success unless you get very close together. The whole fight +lasted about twenty or twenty-five minutes. By sharp turns, on the +part of our opponent, by jamming of the action on our machine gun, or +because of reloading, there were little gaps in the firing, which I +used to close in on the enemy. Our superiority showed up more and +more; at the end I felt just as if the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>Frenchman had given up +defending himself and lost all hope of escape. Shortly before he fell, +he made a motion with his hand, as if to say: let us go; we are +conquered; we surrender. But what can you do in such a case, in the +air? Then he started to volplane; I followed. My observer fired thirty +or forty more shots at him; then suddenly he disappeared. In order not +to lose him, I planed down, my machine almost vertical. Suddenly my +observer cried, “He is falling; he is falling,” and he clapped me on +the back joyously. I did not believe it at first, for with these +monoplanes it is possible to glide so steeply as to appear to be +falling. I looked all over, surprised, but saw nothing. Then I glided +to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>earth and W. told me that the enemy machine had suddenly turned +over and fallen straight down into the woods below. We descended to a +height of a hundred meters and searched for ten minutes, flying above +the woods, but seeing nothing. So we decided to land in a meadow near +the woods and search on foot. Soldiers and civilians were running +toward the woods from all sides. They said that the French machine had +fallen straight down from a great height, turned over twice, and +disappeared in the trees. This news was good for us, and it was +confirmed by a bicyclist, who had already seen the fallen machine and +said both passengers were dead. We hurried to get to the spot. On the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>way Captain W., of the cavalry, told me that everyone within sight +had taken part in the fight, even if only from below. Everyone was +very excited, because none knew which was the German and which the +French, due to the great height. When we arrived we found officers, +doctors and soldiers already there. The machine had fallen from a +height of about 1,800 meters. Since both passengers were strapped in, +they had not fallen out. The machine had fallen through the trees with +tremendous force, both pilot and observer, of course, being dead. The +doctors, who examined them at once, could not help them any more. The +pilot had seven bullet wounds, the observer three. I am sure both were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>dead before they fell. We found several important papers and other +matter on them. In the afternoon my observer, W., and I flew back to +D., after a few rounds of triumph above the village and the fallen +airplane. On the following day, the two aviators were buried with full +military honors in the cemetery at M. Yesterday we were there. The +grave is covered with flowers and at the spot where they fell there is +a large red, white and blue bouquet and many other flowers.</p> + +<p>I was very glad that my observer, W., got the Iron Cross. He fought +excellently; in all, he fired three hundred and eighty shots, and +twenty-seven of them hit the enemy airplane.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Letter of July 16, 1915</span></p> + +<p>... Father asks if it will be all right to publish my report in the +newspapers. I don’t care much for newspaper publicity, and I do not +think that my report is written in a style suitable for newspapers. +The people want such a thing written with more poetry and +color—gruesome, nerve-wrecking suspense, complete revenge, +mountainous clouds, blue, breeze-swept sky—that is what they want. +But if the publication of the report will bring you any joy, I will +not be against it.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 11, 1915</span></p> + +<p>Early August 10th the weather was very poor so that our officer +’phoned in to the city, saying there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>was no need of my coming out. So +I was glad to stay in bed. Suddenly my boy woke me up, saying an +English flyer had just passed. I hopped out of bed and ran to the +window. But the Englishman was headed for his own lines, so there +wasn’t any chance of my catching him. I crawled back to bed, angry at +being disturbed. I had hardly gotten comfortably warm, when my boy +came in again—the Englishman was coming back. Well, I thought if this +fellow has so much nerve, I had better get dressed. Unwashed, in my +nightshirt, without leggings, hardly half dressed, I rode out to the +camp on my motorcycle. I got there in time to see the fellows (not +one, but four!) dropping bombs on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>the aviation field. As I was, I got +into my machine and went up after them. But as the English had very +speedy machines and headed for home after dropping their bombs, I did +not get within range of them. Very sad, I turned back and could not +believe my eyes, for there were five more of the enemy paying us a +visit. Straight for the first one I headed. I got him at a good angle, +and peppered him well, but just when I thought the end was near my +machine gun jammed. I was furious. I tried to repair the damage in the +air, but in my rage only succeeded in breaking the jammed cartridge in +half. There was nothing left to do but land and change the cartridges; +while doing this I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>saw our other monoplanes arrive and was glad that +they, at least, would give the Englishmen a good fight. While having +the damage repaired, I saw Lieutenant Immelmann make a pretty attack +on an Englishman, who tried to fly away. I quickly went up to support +Immelmann, but the enemy was gone by the time I got there. In the +meantime, Immelmann had forced his opponent to land. He had wounded +him, shattering his left arm—Immelmann had had good luck. Two days +before I had flown with him in a Fokker; that is, I did the piloting +and he was only learning. The day before was the first time he had +made a flight alone, and was able to land only after a lot of trouble. +He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>had never taken part in a battle with the enemy, but in spite of +that, he had handled himself very well.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 23, 1915</span></p> + +<p>On the evening of the 19th I had some more luck.</p> + +<p>I fly mostly in the evening to chase the Frenchmen who are out +range-finding, and that evening there were a lot of them out. The +first one I went for was an English Bristol biplane. He seemed to take +me for a Frenchman; he came toward me quite leisurely, a thing our +opponents generally don’t do. But when he saw me firing at him, he +quickly turned. I followed close on him, letting him have all I could +give him. I must have hit him or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>his machine, for he suddenly shut +off his engine and disappeared below me. As the fight took place over +the enemy’s position, he was able to land behind his own lines. +According to our artillery, he landed right near his own artillery. +That is the second one I am positive I left my mark on; I know I +forced him to land. He didn’t do it because he was afraid, but because +he was hit.</p> + +<p>The same evening I attacked two more, and both escaped by volplaning. +But I cannot say whether or not I hit them, as both attacks took place +over the French lines.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 29, 1915</span></p> + +<p>Day before yesterday I flew my Fokker to the division at ——, where +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>from now on I am to serve with the rank of officer. I am to get a +newer, more powerful machine—100-horsepower engine. Yesterday I again +had a chance to demonstrate my skill as a swimmer. The canal, which +passes in front of the Casino, is about 25 meters wide and 2½ +meters deep. The tale is told here that there are fish in the water, +too, and half the town stands around with their lines in the water. I +have never yet seen any of them catch anything. In front of the Casino +there is a sort of bank, where they unload the boats. Yesterday, after +lunch, I was standing outside the door with T. and saw a French boy +climb over the rail, start in fishing and suddenly hop into the water. +I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>ran over to see what he was doing, but he wasn’t in sight. This +seemed peculiar, so I wasted no time in thought, but dived over after +him. This all happened so quickly that T. was just in time to see me +go in and did not know what was the matter. I came to the surface, but +still alone. Then I saw, not far from me, bubbles and someone +struggling in the water. I swam over to him, dived, came up under him, +and had him. In the meantime T. and the chauffeur had arrived and T. +thought I was going to drown and got ready to go in after me. Finally +we got to a nearby boat and T. pulled the boy and me out. When we got +to the land the mother of the boy came running up and thanked me most +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>profusely. The rest of the population gave me a real ovation. I must +have looked funny, because I had jumped in as I was and the water was +streaming off me.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">September 18, 1915</span></p> + +<p>To-day I went to see the boy’s parents and they were very grateful. +The boy had grown dizzy while standing on the bank and had fallen in. +They said they would get the order of the French Legion of Honor for +me if they could. That would be a good joke.</p> + +<p>Lately, I have flown to the front every evening with Lieutenant +Immelmann, to chase the Frenchmen there. As there are usually eight or +ten of them, we have plenty to do. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>Saturday we had the luck to get a +French battleplane and between us chase it till it was at a loss what +to do. Only by running away did it escape us. The French did not like +this at all. The next evening we went out peacefully to hunt the enemy +and were struck right away by their great numbers. Suddenly they went +crazy and attacked us. They had a new type biplane, very fast, with +fuselage. They seemed to be surprised that we let them attack us. We +were glad that at last we had an opponent who did not run the first +chance he got. After a few vain attacks, they turned and we followed, +each of us took one and soon forced them to volplane to earth. As it +was already late, we were satisfied and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>turned to go home. Suddenly I +saw two enemy ’planes cruising around over our lines. Since our men in +the trenches might think we were afraid, I made a signal for Immelmann +to take a few more turns over the lines to show this was not so. But +he misunderstood me and attacked one of the Frenchmen, but the +latter did not relish this. Meanwhile the second ’plane started +for Immelmann, who could not see him, and I naturally had to go to +Immelmann’s aid. When the second Frenchman saw me coming he turned and +made for me. I let him have a few shots so that he turned away when +things got too hot for him. That was a big mistake, for it gave me a +chance to get him from behind. This is the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>position from which I +prefer to attack. I was close on his heels and not more than fifty +meters separated us, so it was not long before I had hit him. I must +have mortally wounded the pilot, for suddenly he threw both his arms +up and the machine fell straight down. I saw him fall and he turned +several times before striking, about 400 meters in front of our lines. +Everybody was immensely pleased, and it has been established beyond +all doubt that both aviators were killed and the machine wrecked. +Immelmann also saw him fall, and was immensely pleased by our success.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">M., September 23, 1915</span></p> + +<p>Sunday night I unexpectedly received a telegram saying I had been +transferred. As yet there is no machine here for me, so, for the time +being, I have nothing to do.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">M., September 27, 1915</span></p> + +<p>I was casually wandering through the streets; stopped to read the +daily bulletins, and there was my name.</p> + +<p>It happened the third day of my stay here. As my machines had not yet +arrived, the Captain loaned me a Fokker. I was told to be ready at +nine o’clock, as the others were to protect the Kaiser, who was +breakfasting in a nearby castle. As I wanted to get acquainted with my +machine, I went up at a quarter of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>nine. I was up about three or four +minutes when I saw bombs bursting and three or four enemy ’planes +flying toward M. I quickly tried to climb to their altitude. This, of +course, always takes some time, and by that time the enemy was over +M., unloading their bombs on the railroad station. Luckily they hit +nothing. After they had all dropped their bombs (there were now ten of +them) they turned to go home. I was now about at their altitude, so I +started for them. One of the biplanes saw me—it seems they go along +to protect the others—and he attacked me from above. Since it is very +hard to fire at an opponent who is above you, I let him have a few +shots and turned away. That was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>all the Frenchman wanted, so he +turned back. I again attacked the squadron and soon succeeded in +getting in range of the lowest of them. I did not fire till I was +within a hundred meters, to avoid attracting unnecessary attention. My +opponent was frightened and tried to escape. I was right behind him +all the while, and kept filling him with well-aimed shots. My only +worry was the others, who heard the shots and came to their comrade’s +rescue. I had to hurry. I noticed I was having some success, because +the Frenchman started to glide to earth. Finally, both of us had +dropped from 2,500 meters to 1,200. I kept firing at him from behind, +as well as I could. In the meantime, however, two of his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>friends had +arrived and sent me several friendly greetings. That isn’t very +comfortable, and to add to it all, I was without a map above a strange +territory and did not know where I was any longer. As my opponent kept +flying lower and his companions followed, I had to assume I was behind +the enemy’s line. Therefore, I ceased my attack and soon, owing to my +speed and lack of desire to follow on the part of the French, I left +them far behind. Now I had to find my way back. I flew north, and +after a time got back to the district around M., which was familiar to +me from my days at the officers’ school. When I got back I only knew +what I have told, and could report only a battle and not a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>victory. +By aid of a map I found I had been over P. à M. In the afternoon the +report came that the infantry on the heights of —— had seen a +biplane “flutter” to earth. The artillery positively reported that the +biplane I had fired on had fallen behind the enemy’s barbed-wire +entanglements. They said the pilot had been dragged to the trenches, +dead or severely wounded. Then our artillery had fired at the ’plane +and destroyed it. I can only explain the thing this way: I wounded the +pilot during the fight; he had tried to glide to earth and land behind +his own lines; shortly before landing he lost consciousness or control +of his machine; then he “fluttered” to earth; <i>i.e.</i>, fell. This was +the fourth one.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">October 17, 1915</span></p> + +<p>Yesterday, the 16th, I shot down a French Voisin biplane near P.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">R., November 2, 1915</span></p> + +<p>On the 30th of October we attacked at T. It was our business to break +up all scouting on the part of the enemy, and that was difficult that +day. The clouds were only 1,500 meters above earth, broken in spots. +The French were sailing around behind their front on the 1,400-meter +level. Attacked two through the clouds. The first escaped. I got +within 100 meters of the second before he saw me. Then he started to +run, but that didn’t help him any, because I was much faster than he. +I fired 500 shots before he fell. Was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>within three to five meters of +him. He would not fall. In the very moment when we seemed about to +collide, I turned off to the left. He tilted to the right. I saw +nothing more of him. Was very dizzy myself. Was followed by two +Farmans and was 1,000 meters behind the enemy’s lines. Artillery +fired. Too high. Got home without being hit. The enemy airplane fell +behind his own lines. The wreck, about 200 meters from our lines, is +plainly visible, especially one wing, which is sticking straight up. +The attack was rather rash on my part, but on this day of great +military value; the French did not come near our position after that.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">D., December 12, 1915</span></p> + +<p>Am once more in the familiar town of D. Everything is the same as +usual. The Captain was very glad that he could give me the life-saving +medal. It had just arrived.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">D., December 31, 1915</span></p> + +<p>Christmas celebrated very nicely and in comfort. Christmas Eve we +had a celebration for the men in one of the hangars, which was all +decorated. They all received some fine presents. The authorities had +sent a package with all kinds of things for each one of them. In the +evening we officers also had a little celebration at the Casino; here +they also gave out our presents. For me there was a very beautiful +silver cup, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>among other things. This cup was inscribed “To the victor +in the air,” and was given to me by the Commander-in-Chief of the +Aviation Corps. Immelmann received its mate.</p> + +<p>Day before yesterday I had a fight with a very keen opponent, who +defended himself bravely. I was superior to him and forced him into +the defensive. He tried to escape by curving and manœuvring, and +even tried to throw me on the defensive. He did not succeed, but I +could not harm him either. All I did accomplish was to force him +gradually closer to earth. We had started at 2,800 and soon I had him +down to 1,000 meters. We kept whirring and whizzing around each other. +As I had already fired on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>two other enemy craft on this trip, I had +only a few cartridges left. This was his salvation. Finally he could +not defend himself any more because I had mortally wounded his +observer. Now it would have been comparatively safe for me to get him +if I had not run out of ammunition at the 800-meter level. Neither of +us was able to harm the other. Finally another Fokker (Immelmann) came +to my rescue and the fight started all over again. I attacked along +with Immelmann to confuse the Englishman. We succeeded in forcing him +to within 100 meters of the ground and were expecting him to land any +moment. Still he kept flying back and forth like a lunatic. I, by +flying straight at him, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>wanted to put a stop to this, but just then +my engine stopped and I had to land. I saw him disappear over a row of +trees, armed myself with a flashlight (I had nothing better) and rode +over on a horse. I expected that he had landed, but imagine my +surprise! He had flown on. I inquired and telephoned, but found out +nothing. In the evening the report came that he had passed over our +trenches at a height of 100 meters on his way home. Daring of the +chap! Not every one would care to imitate him. Immelmann had jammed +his gun and had to quit.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">January 8, 1916</span></p> + +<p>On the 5th of January I pursued two Englishmen, overtook them at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>H.-L. and attacked the first one. The other did not seem to see me; +at any rate he kept right on. The fight was comparatively short. I +attacked, he defended himself; I hit and he didn’t. He had dropped +considerably in the meantime, and finally started to sway and landed. +I stayed close behind him, so he could not escape. Close to H. he +landed; his machine broke apart, the pilot jumped out and collapsed. I +quickly landed and found the ’plane already surrounded by people from +the nearby village. The Englishmen, whom I interviewed, were both +wounded. The pilot, who was only slightly wounded, could talk German; +the observer was severely wounded. The former was very sad <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>at his +capture; I had hit his controls and shot them to pieces. Yesterday I +visited the observer at the hospital; the pilot had been taken away in +the meantime. I brought the observer English books and photographs of +his machine. He was very pleased. He said he knew my name well.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of the 5th, I made another flight, but everything was +quiet. I landed and rode to the city to eat with the rest, because it +was getting cloudy again. Just imagine my luck! I was hardly in when a +squadron of ten ’planes appeared. I hurried back again and arrived +just as they were dropping their bombs on our field. All the helpers +were in the bomb-proofs. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>howled as if I were being burned alive. At +last someone came. I had to take an 80-horsepower machine, because +Immelmann, who had remained behind, had already taken my +160-horsepower machine. But with the 80-horsepower machine I could not +reach the enemy in time. Then I saw one somewhat separated from the +rest. One Fokker had already attacked it, and I went to help him, for +I saw I could not overtake the rest. When the Englishman saw both of +us on top of him, he judged things were too hot for him, and quickly +landed at V., both of us close behind him. The Englishman was alone, +still had all his bombs, was unwounded and had only landed through +fear.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Illo5" id="Illo5"></a> +<img src="images/i101.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="500" height="345" alt="Donning His Flying-Dress" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Donning His Flying-Dress</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 362px;"><a name="Illo6" id="Illo6"></a> +<img src="images/i102.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="362" height="500" alt="An Aviator Bombarded With Shrapnel" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">An Aviator Bombarded With Shrapnel</span> +</div> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">January 15, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Now, events come so fast I cannot keep up with them by writing.</p> + +<p>On the 11th we had a little gathering that kept me up later than +usual, so I did not feel like getting up in the morning. But, as the +weather was good, I strolled out to the field and went up about nine +o’clock. I flew over to Lille to lie in wait for any hostile aircraft. +At first, I had no luck at all. Finally I saw bombs bursting near +Ypres. I flew so far I could see the ocean, but am sorry to say I +could not find any enemy ’plane. On my way back, I saw two Englishmen, +west of Lille, and attacked the nearer one. He did not appreciate the +attention, but turned and ran. Just above the trenches I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>came within +gunshot of him. We greeted each other with our machine guns, and he +elected to land. I let him go to get at the second of the pair, and +spoil his visit, also. Thanks to my good machine, I gradually caught +up with him, as he flew toward the east, north of Lille. When I was +still four or five hundred meters away from him, he seemed to have +seen all he wanted, for he turned to fly west. Then I went for him. I +kept behind him till I was near enough. The Englishman seemed to be an +old hand at this game, for he let me come on without firing a shot. He +didn’t shoot until after I started. I flew squarely behind him, and +had all the time in the world to aim, because he did <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>not vary a hair +from his straight course. He twice reloaded his gun. Suddenly, after +only a short while, he fell. I was sure I had hit the pilot. At 800 +meters, his machine righted itself, but then dove on, head-foremost, +till it landed in a garden in M., northeast of S. The country is very +rough there, so I went back to our landing-place and reported by +telephone. To my surprise, I heard that at the time Immelmann had shot +down an Englishman near P. I had to laugh.</p> + +<p>The greatest surprise came in the evening. We were just at dinner when +I was called to the ’phone. At the other end was the +Commander-in-Chief’s Adjutant, who congratulated me for receiving the +order <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span><i>Pour le mérite.</i> I thought he was joking. But he told me that +Immelmann and I had both received this honor at the telegraphic order +of the Kaiser. My surprise and joy were great. I went in and said +nothing, but sent Captain K. to the ’phone, and he received the news +and broke it to all. First, everyone was surprised, then highly +pleased. On the same evening I received several messages of +congratulation, and the next day, January 13th, had nothing to do all +day but receive other such messages.</p> + +<p>Everybody seemed elated. One old chap would not let me go, and I +didn’t escape till I promised to visit him. From all comers I received +messages: by telephone and telegraph. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>The King of Bavaria, who +happened to be in Lille with the Bavarian Crown Prince, invited me to +dinner for the 14th of January.</p> + +<p>Now comes the best of all. On the 14th, that is, yesterday, it was +ideal weather for flying. So I went up at nine o’clock to look around. +As it was getting cloudy near Lille, I changed my course to take me +south of Arras. I was up hardly an hour, when I saw the smoke of +bursting bombs near P. I flew in that direction, but the Englishman +who was dropping the bombs saw me and started for home. I soon +overtook him.</p> + +<p>When he saw I intended to attack him, he suddenly turned and attacked +me. Now, there started the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>hardest fight I have as yet been in. The +Englishman continually tried to attack me from behind, and I tried to +do the same to him. We circled ’round and ’round each other. I had +taken my experience of December 28th to heart (that was the time I had +used up all my ammunition), so I only fired when I could get my sights +on him. In this way, we circled around, I often not firing a shot for +several minutes. This merry-go-round was immaterial to me, since we +were over our lines. But I watched him, for I felt that sooner or +later he would make a dash for home. I noticed that while circling +around he continually tried to edge over toward his own lines, which +were not far away. I waited my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>chance, and was able to get at him in +real style, shooting his engine to pieces. This I noticed when he +glided toward his own lines, leaving a tail of smoke behind him. I had +to stop him in his attempt to reach safety, so, in spite of his +wrecked motor, I had to attack him again. About 200 meters inside our +positions I overtook him, and fired both my guns at him at close range +(I no longer needed to save my cartridges). At the moment when I +caught up to him, we passed over our trenches and I turned back. I +could not determine what had become of him, for I had to save myself +now. I flew back, and as I had little fuel left, I landed near the +village of F. Here I was received by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>the Division Staff and was told +what had become of the Englishman. To my joy, I learned that, +immediately after I had left him, he had come to earth near the +English positions. The trenches are only a hundred meters apart at +this place. One of the passengers, the pilot, it seems, jumped out and +ran to the English trenches. He seems to have escaped, in spite of the +fact that our infantry fired at him. Our field artillery quickly +opened fire on his machine, and among the first shots one struck it +and set it afire. The other aviator, probably the pilot, who was +either dead or severely wounded, was burned up with the machine. +Nothing but the skeleton of the airplane remains. As my helpers did +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>not come till late, I rode to D. in the Division automobile, because +I had to be with the King of Bavaria at 5:30. From D. I went directly +on to Lille. King and Crown Prince both conversed with me for quite a +while, and they were especially pleased at my most recent success. +Once home, I began to see the black side of being a hero. Everyone +congratulates you. All ask you questions. I shall soon be forced to +carry a printed interrogation sheet with me with answers all filled +out. I was particularly pleased by my ninth success, because it +followed so close on the <i>Pour le mérite</i>.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">S., March 16, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Since March 11th I am here in S. As the lines near Verdun have all +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>been pushed ahead, we were too far in the rear. We saw nothing of the +enemy aviators; the reports came too late, so that we were not as +timely as formerly. Therefore, they let me pick out a place nearer +the lines. I chose a good meadow. I am entirely independent; have +an automobile of my own, also a motor truck, and command of a +non-commissioned officer and fifteen men. We are so near the front +that we can see every enemy airplane that makes a flight in our +vicinity. In the first days of our stay here, I had good luck. The +weather was good on March 12th. We had a lot to do. I started about +eleven to chase two French Farman biplanes, who were circling around +over L’homme mort. By the time I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>arrived there were four of them. I +waited for a good chance, and as soon as two of them crossed our front +I went for the upper one. There now ensued a pretty little game. The +two Frenchmen stuck together like brothers; but I would not let go of +the one I had tackled first. The second Frenchman, on his part, tried +to stick behind me. It was a fine game. The one I was attacking +twisted and spiralled to escape. I got him from behind and forced him +to the 500-meter level. I was very close to him and quite surprised +that he had stopped his twisting; but just as I was about to give him +the finishing shots, my machine gun stopped. I had pressed down too +hard on the trigger <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>mechanism, in the heat of the battle, and this +had jammed. The second Frenchman now attacked me, and I escaped while +I could. The second fight took place over our lines. The first +Frenchman, as I learned later, had gotten his share. He was just able +to glide to the French side of the Meuse, and here he landed, +according to some reports; others say he fell. I am inclined to +believe the former, but probably he could not pick a good spot in +which to land, and so broke his machine. From Lieutenant R. I heard +that the machine, as well as an automobile, that came to its aid, were +set afire by our artillery. I learned further details from Lieutenant +B. After landing, one of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>aviators ran to the village, returned +with a stretcher and helped carry the other one away. Things seem to +have happened like this: I wounded the pilot; he was just able to make +a landing; then, with the aid of his observer, he was carried off, and +our artillery destroyed his machine.</p> + +<p>On the following day, the 13th, there was again great aerial activity. +Early in the morning I came just in time to see a French battleplane +attack a German above Fort Douaumont. I went for the Frenchman and +chased him away—it was beautiful to see him go. In the afternoon, I +saw a French squadron flying above L’homme mort, toward D. I picked +out one of them and went for him. It was a Voisin biplane, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>that +lagged somewhat behind the rest. As I was far above him, I overtook +him rapidly and attacked him before he fully realized the situation. +As soon as he did, he turned to cross back over the French front. I +attacked him strongly, and he tilted to the right and disappeared +under me. I thought he was falling; turned to keep him in sight, and, +to my surprise, saw that the machine had righted itself. Again I went +for him, and saw a very strange sight. The observer had climbed out of +his seat and was on the left plane, holding to the struts. He looked +frightened, and it was really a sorry plight to be in. He was +defenseless, and I hesitated to shoot at him. I had evidently put +their controls out of commission, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>and the machine had fallen. To +right it, the observer had climbed out on the plane and restored its +equilibrium. I fired a few more shots at the pilot, when I was +attacked by a second Frenchman, coming to the rescue of his comrade. +As I had only a few shots left and was above the enemy’s line, I +turned back. The enemy ’plane glided on a little distance after I +left, but finally fell from a low altitude. It is lying in plain +sight, in front of our positions east of the village of D.</p> + +<p>We have now spoiled the Frenchmen’s fun. On March 14th I again +attacked one of their battleplanes, and it seemed in a great hurry to +get away from me. I accompanied him a little way, playing the music +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>with my machine gun. He descended behind Fort M., as reported later +by our soldiers.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">March 17, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Last evening I was invited to dine with the Crown Prince. It was very +pleasant. He does not value etiquette, and is very unassuming and +natural. He pumped all possible information out of me, as he himself +admitted later. We had quite a long talk, and on my taking leave he +said he would wish for me that I would soon bring down the twelfth +enemy.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">S., March 21, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Twelve and thirteen followed close on each other. As the weather was +fine, we had a lot to do every day. On the 19th I was flying toward +D., <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>in the afternoon, to get two Farmans, who were cruising around +behind their front. About 12:45 I saw bombs bursting on the west side +of the Meuse. I came just in time to see the enemy flying back over +his own lines. I thought he had escaped me when I saw him turn and +start for one of our biplanes. That was bad for him, because I got the +chance to attack him from above. As soon as he saw me, he tried to +escape by steep spirals, firing at me at the same time.</p> + +<p>But no one who is as frightened as he was ever hits anything. I never +fired unless certain of my aim, and so filled him with well-placed +shots. I had come quite close to him, when I saw him suddenly upset; +one wing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>broke off, and his machine gradually separated, piece by +piece. As there was a south wind, we had drifted over our positions, +and he fell into our trenches. Pilot and observer were both killed. I +had hit the pilot a number of times, so that death was instantaneous. +The infantry sent us various things found in the enemy ’plane, among +them a machine gun and an automatic camera. The pictures were +developed, and showed our artillery positions.</p> + +<p>This morning I started at 9:50, as our anti-aircraft guns were firing +at a Farman biplane above Côte de ——. The enemy was flying back and +forth in the line Ch— to Ch—. At 10:10 I was above him, as well as +another Farman, flying above M. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>As the Farman again approached our +position, I started to attack him. The anti-aircraft guns were also +firing, but I imagine they were only finding the range, since their +shots did not come near the Frenchman. At the moment when the one +Farman turned toward the south, I started for the other, who was +flying somewhat lower. He saw me coming, and tried to avoid an +engagement by spiral glides. As he flew very cleverly, it was some +time before I got within range. At an altitude of five or six hundred +meters I opened fire, while he was still trying to reach his own +lines. But in pursuing him, I had come within two hundred meters of +the road from M. to Ch., so I broke off the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>attack. My opponent gave +his engine gas (I could plainly see the smoke of his exhaust) and +flew away toward the southeast. The success I had two hours later +reimbursed me for this failure. In the morning, at about eleven +o’clock, I saw a German biplane in battle with a Farman west of O. I +swooped down on the Farman from behind, while another Fokker came to +our aid from above. In the meantime, I had opened fire on the Farman +(who had not seen me at all) at a range of eighty meters. As I had +come from above, at a steep angle, I had soon overtaken him. In the +very moment as I was passing over him he exploded. The cloud of black +smoke blew around me. It was no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>battle at all; he had fallen in the +shortest possible time. It was a tremendous spectacle: to see the +enemy burst into flames and fall to earth, slowly breaking to pieces.</p> + +<p>The reports that I have been wounded in the head, arms, neck, legs, or +abdomen, are all foolish. Probably the people who are always inquiring +about me, will now discredit such rumors.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">April 29, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Thursday morning, at nine, as I arrived in S., after a short trip to +Germany, two Frenchmen appeared—the first seen in the last four +weeks. I quickly rode out to the field, but came too late. I saw one +of our biplanes bring one of the enemies <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>to earth; the other escaped. +I flew toward the front at Verdun, and came just in time for a little +scrape. Three Frenchmen had crossed over our lines and been attacked +by a Fokker, who got into difficulties, and had to retreat. I came to +his aid; attacked one of the enemy, and peppered him properly. The +whole bunch then took to their heels. But I did not let my friend +escape so easily. He twisted and turned, flying with great cleverness. +I attacked him three times from the rear, and once diagonally in +front. Finally, he spiralled steeply, toppled over and flew for a +while with the wheels up. Then he dropped. According to reports from +the —— Reserve Division, he fell in the woods <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>southwest of V., +after turning over twice more. That was number 14.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">S., May 9, 1916</span></p> + +<p>On May 1st I saw an enemy biplane above the “Pfefferrücken,” as I was +standing at our landing station. I started at once, and overtook him +at 1,500 meters altitude. It seems he did not see me. I attacked from +above and behind, and greeted him with the usual machine-gun fire. He +quickly turned and attacked me. But this pleasure did not last long +for him. I quickly had him in a bad way, and made short work of him. +After a few more twists and turns my fire began to tell, and finally +he fell. I then flew home, satisfied that I had accomplished my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>task. +The whole thing only lasted about two minutes.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">June 2, 1916</span></p> + +<p>On the 17th of May we had a good day. One of our scout ’planes wanted +to take some pictures near Verdun, and I was asked to protect it. I +met him above the Côte de —— and flew with him at a great altitude. +He worked without being disturbed, and soon turned back without having +been fired at. On the way back, I saw bombs bursting at Douaumont and +flew over to get a closer view. There were four or five other German +biplanes there; I also noticed several French battleplanes at a +distance. I kept in the background and watched our opponents. I saw a +Nieuport attack one of our machines,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> so I went for him and I almost +felt I had him; but my speed was too great, and I shot past him. He +then made off at great speed; I behind him. Several times I was very +near him, and fired, but he flew splendidly. I followed him for a +little while longer, but he did not appreciate this. Meanwhile, the +other French battleplanes had come up, and started firing at me. I +flew back over our lines and waited for them there. One, who was much +higher than the rest, came and attacked me; we circled around several +times and then he flew away. I was so far below him that it was hard +to attack him at all. But I could not let him deprive me of the +pleasure of following him for a while. During this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>tilt, I dropped +from 4,000 meters to a height of less than 2,000. Our biplanes had +also drifted downward.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, at an altitude of 4,700 meters, I saw eight of the enemy’s +Caudrons. I could hardly believe my eyes! They were flying in pairs, +as if attached to strings, in perfect line. They each had two engines, +and were flying on the line Meuse-Douaumont. It was a shame! Now, I +had to climb to their altitude again. So I stayed beneath a pair of +them and tried to get at them. But, as they were flying so high and +would not come down toward me, I had no success. Shortly before they +were over our kite-balloons they turned. So fifteen or twenty minutes +passed. Finally I reached their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>height. I attacked from below, and +tried to give them something to remember me by, but they paid no +attention to me, and flew home. Just then, above Côte de ——, I saw +two more Caudrons appear, and, thank goodness, they were below me. I +flew toward them, but they were already across the Meuse. Just in +time, I looked up, and saw a Nieuport and a Caudron coming down toward +me. I attacked the more dangerous opponent first, and so flew straight +toward the Nieuport. We passed each other firing, but neither of us +were hit. I was only striving to protect myself. When flying toward +each other, it is very difficult to score a hit because of the +combined speed of the two craft. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>quickly turned and followed close +behind the enemy. Then the other Caudron started to manœuver the +same way, only more poorly than the Nieuport. I followed him, and was +just about to open fire when a Fokker came to my aid, and attacked the +Caudron. As we were well over the French positions, the latter glided, +with the Fokker close behind him. The Nieuport saw this, and came to +the aid of his hard-pressed companion; I in turn followed the +Nieuport. It was a peculiar position: below, the fleeing Caudron; +behind him, the Fokker; behind the Fokker, the Nieuport, and I, last +of all, behind the Nieuport. We exchanged shots merrily. Finally the +Fokker let the Caudron go, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>Nieuport stopped chasing the +Fokker. I fired my last shots at the Nieuport and went home. The whole +farce lasted over an hour. We had worked hard, but without visible +success. At least, the Fokker (who turned out to be Althaus) and I had +dominated the field.</p> + +<p>On the 18th of May I got Number 16. Toward evening I went up and found +our biplanes everywhere around Verdun. I felt superfluous there, so +went off for a little trip. I wanted to have a look at the Champagne +district once more, and flew to A. and back. Everywhere there was +peace: on earth as well as in the air. I only saw one airplane, in the +distance at A. On my way back I had the good luck to see two bombs +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>bursting at M., and soon saw a Caudron near me. The Frenchman had not +seen me at all. He was on his way home, and suspected nothing. As he +made no move to attack or escape, I kept edging closer without firing. +When I was about fifty meters away from them, and could see both +passengers plainly, I started a well-aimed fire. He immediately tilted +and tried to escape below me, but I was so close to him it was too +late. I fired quite calmly. After about 150 shots I saw his left +engine smoke fiercely and then burst into flame. The machine turned +over, buckled, and burned up. It fell like a plummet into the French +second line trenches, and continued to burn there.</p> + +<p>On May 20th I again went for a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>little hunting trip in the Champagne +district, and attacked a Farman north of V. I went for him behind his +own lines, and he immediately started to land. In spite of this, I +followed him, because his was the only enemy machine in sight. I stuck +to him and fired, but he would not fall. The pilot of a Farman machine +is well protected by the motor, which is behind him. Though you can +kill the observer, and riddle the engine and tanks, they are always +able to escape by gliding. But in this case, I think I wounded the +pilot also, because the machine made the typical lengthwise tilt that +shows it is out of control. But as the fight was too far behind the +French front, I flew home.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p><p>The next day I again had tangible results. In the afternoon I flew on +both sides of the Meuse. On the French side two French battleplanes +were flying at a great altitude; I could not reach them. I was about +to turn back, and was gliding over L’homme mort, when I saw two +Caudrons below me, who had escaped my observation till then. I went +after them, but they immediately flew off. I followed, and at a +distance of 200 meters, attacked the one; at that very instant I saw a +Nieuport coming toward me. I was anxious to give him something to +remember me by, so I let the Caudrons go and flew due north. The +Nieuport came after me, thinking I had not seen him. I kept watching +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>him until he was about 200 meters away. Then I quickly turned my +machine and flew toward him. He was frightened by this, turned his +machine and flew south. By my attack, I had gained about 100 meters, +so that at a range of 100 to 150 meters, I could fill his fuselage +with shots. He made work easy for me by flying in a straight line. +Besides, I had along ammunition by means of which I could determine +the path of my shots. My opponent commenced to get unsteady, but I +could not follow him till he fell. Not until evening did I learn from +a staff officer that the infantry at L’homme mort had reported the +fall of the machine. In the evening, I went out again, without any +particular objective,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> and after a number of false starts I had some +success. I was flying north of Bois de ——, when I saw a Frenchman +flying about. I made believe I was flying away, and the Frenchman was +deceived by my ruse and came after me, over our positions. Now I +swooped down on him with tremendous speed (I was much higher than he). +He turned, but could not escape me. Close behind the French lines, I +caught up with him. He was foolish enough to fly straight ahead, and I +pounded him with a continuous stream of well-placed shots. I kept this +up till he caught fire. In the midst of this he exploded, collapsed, +and fell to earth. As he fell, one wing broke off. So, in one day, I +had gotten Numbers 17 and 18.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 131-3]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LEAVE_OF_ABSENCE" id="LEAVE_OF_ABSENCE"></a>LEAVE OF ABSENCE</h2> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 4, 1916</span></p> + +<p>I was at S. collecting all the equipment of my division. As all the +authorities helped me quickly and well, I was ready to move on June +30th. Imagine my bad luck: just on this very day I was destined to +make my exit from the stage. It was like this:</p> + +<p>Near Verdun there was not much to do in the air. Scouting had been +almost dropped. One day, when there was a little more to do than +usual, I had gone up twice in the morning and was loafing around on +the field. I suddenly heard machine-gun <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>firing in the air and saw a +Nieuport attacking one of our biplanes. The German landed and told me, +all out of breath:</p> + +<p>“The devil is loose on the front. Six Americans are up. I could +plainly see the American flag on the fuselage. They were quite bold; +came all the way across the front.”</p> + +<p>I didn’t imagine things were quite so bad, and decided to go up and +give the Americans a welcome. They were probably expecting it; +politeness demanded it. I really met them above the Meuse. They were +flying back and forth quite gaily, close together. I flew toward them, +and greeted the first one with my machine gun. He seemed to be quite a +beginner; at any rate, I had no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>trouble in getting to within 100 +meters of him, and had him well under fire. As he was up in the clouds +and flew in a straight course, I was justified in expecting to bring +him to earth soon. But luck was not with me. I had just gotten my +machine back from the factory, and after firing a few shots my gun +jammed. In vain I tried to remedy the trouble. While still bothering +with my gun the other “five Americans” were on me. As I could not +fire, I preferred to retreat, and the whole swarm were after me. I +tried to speed up my departure by tilting my machine to the left and +letting it drop. A few hundred meters, and I righted it. But they +still followed. I repeated the manœuver and flew <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>home, little +pleased but unharmed. I only saw that the Americans were again flying +where I had found them.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> This angered me and I immediately got into +my second machine and went off again. I was hardly 1,500 meters high +when with a loud crash my motor broke apart, and I had to land in a +meadow at C.</p> + +<p>We made another pretty flight this day. The district around B. and +west of Verdun was to be photographed by a scout division. Captain V. +was to go over with the squadron, and asked me to go with two other +Fokkers to protect them. I went with them, and as I kept <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>close to +them, I was right at hand when two French battleplanes attacked. The +first one did not approach very close, but the second attacked the +biplane which carried Captain V. As he was just then engaged in +looking through his binoculars, he did not see the machine approach. +The pilot, also, did not notice it till the last moment. Then he made +such a sharp turn that Captain V. almost fell out. I came to their +aid; the Frenchman started to run. I could hardly aim at him at all, +he flew in such sharp curves and zigzags. At 1,800 meters’ elevation, +I fired a few parting shots and left him. I was sure he would not do +us any more harm. As one of the wires to a spark-plug had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>broken, my +engine was not running right, so I turned and went home. The squadron +had all the time in the world to take photographs, and was quite +satisfied with results. The machine I had attacked was first reported +as having fallen, but later this was denied.</p> + +<p>Now came the extremely sad news of Immelmann’s death. One evening we +received word he had fallen. I first thought it was one of the usual +rumors, but, to my deep sorrow, it was later confirmed by staff +officers. They said his body was being taken to Dresden. I, therefore, +immediately asked for leave to fly to D.</p> + +<p>It was very impressive. Immelmann lay in the courtyard of a hospital, +on a wonderful bier. Everywhere <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>there were pedestals with torches +burning on them.</p> + +<p>Immelmann lost his life through a foolish accident. Everything the +papers write about a battle in the air is nonsense. A part of his +propeller broke off and, due to the jerk, the wire braces of the +fuselage snapped. The fuselage then broke off. Aside from the great +personal loss we have suffered, I feel the moral effect of his death +on the enemy is not to be underrated.</p> + +<p>I made good use of my chance to again attack the English at D. I liked +it so well, I kept postponing my return to S. One evening I flew a +Halberstadt biplane; this was the first appearance of these machines +at the front. As it is somewhat similar <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>to an English B.-E., I +succeeded in completely fooling an Englishman. I got to within fifty +meters of him and fired a number of shots at him. But as I was flying +quite rapidly, and was not as familiar with the new machine as with +the Fokker, I did not succeed in hitting him right away. I passed +beneath him, and he turned and started to descend. I followed him, but +my cartridge belt jammed and I could not fire. I turned away, and +before I had repaired the damage he was gone.</p> + +<p>The next day I had two more opportunities to attack Englishmen. The +first time, it was a squadron of six Vickers’ machines. I started as +they were over L., and the other Fokkers from D. went with me. As <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>I +had the fastest machine, I was first to reach the enemy. I picked out +one and shot at him, with good results; his motor (behind the pilot) +puffed out a great quantity of yellow smoke. I thought he would fall +any moment, but he escaped by gliding behind his own line. According +to the report of our infantry, he was seen to land two kilometers +behind the front. I could not finish him entirely, because my left gun +had run out of ammunition, and the right one had jammed. In the +meantime, the other Fokkers had reached the English. I saw one +160-horsepower machine (Mulzer, pilot,) attack an Englishman in fine +style, but as the Englishman soon received aid, I had to come to +Mulzer’s rescue. So I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>drove the one away from Mulzer; my enemy did +not know I was unable to fire at him. Mulzer saw and recognized me, +and again attacked briskly. To my regret, he had only the same success +I had had a while before, and as Mulzer turned to go home, I did +likewise. In the afternoon, I again had a chance at an Englishman, but +he escaped in the clouds.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the Crown Prince had telephoned once, and our staff officer +several times, for me to return. I had at first said I would wait for +better weather, so they finally told me to take the train back if it +was poor weather. So I saw it was no use, and the next morning I flew +back to S. Here I found a telegram <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>for me: “Captain Bölcke is to +report at once to the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerial Division. He is +to be at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army.” My joy +was great, for I expected to be sent to the Second Army, where the +English offensive was just beginning. In the afternoon I reported to +the Crown Prince, and there I began to have doubts, for he left me in +the dark as to my future. On the next day I reported to the Chief of +the Aerial Division at C., and here all my expectations were proven +unfounded. For the present, I was not to fly, but was to rest at C. +for my “nerves.” You can imagine my rage. I was to stay at a +watering-place in C. and gaze into the sky. If I had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>any wish I just +needed to express it, only I was not to fly. You can imagine my rage. +When I saw that I could do nothing against this decision, I resolved +that rather than stay at C. I would go on leave of absence, and at +this opportunity see the other fronts. After I telephoned Wilhelm (who +was glad rather than sorry for me), my orders were changed to read: +“Captain Bölcke is to leave for Turkey and other countries at the +request of ——.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Illo7" id="Illo7"></a> +<img src="images/i151.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="500" height="377" alt="Among His Comrades" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Among His Comrades</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Illo8" id="Illo8"></a> +<img src="images/i152.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="500" height="291" alt="German Marine Aviators on a Field Near the North Sea" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">German Marine Aviators on a Field Near the North Sea</span> +</div> + +<p>Even though this was nothing that replaced my work, it was, at least, +a balm for my wounded feelings. I immediately went to S. to pack my +things and use the remaining two days to fly as much as possible. I +flew twice that night, because I had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>to utilize the time. In spite of bad weather, I had the luck to meet +five Frenchmen the second time I went up. One came within range and I +attacked him. He was quite low and above his own trenches, but in my +present frame of mind that did not matter to me. I flew toward him, +firing both guns, flew over him, turned and started to attack him +again, but found him gone. It was very dark by then. When I got home I +asked if anyone had seen him fall, but no one knew anything definite.</p> + +<p>The next day the weather was bad, and I flew over to Wilhelm to talk +over several things and bid him farewell. Picture my surprise, when I +read in the afternoon’s wireless reports: <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>“Yesterday an enemy machine +was brought down near Douaumont.” This could only have been my enemy, +because, on account of the bad weather, I was the only German who had +gone up at that part of the front. I immediately called up the staff +officer, and he said yes, it had been a Fokker, yesterday evening, +that had brought down the Frenchman, but no one knew who was flying +the Fokker. I told him the time, place, and other circumstances, and +he seemed very surprised, and forbid me any further flight. He +proceeded to make further inquiries. The next morning the further +surprising details arrived: The enemy airplane that had been attacked +above our first line trenches <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>had fallen in our lines because of +heavy south winds. That was very fine for me. Now, my departure from +the front was not so bad, because I had brought down another enemy and +so had put a stop to any lies the enemy might start about me. The +others, my helpers, friends, etc., were well pleased. To put a stop to +any more such breaks of discipline, they made me go direct to Ch. It +pleased me that I could make four of my mechanics corporals before I +left. Three of them got the Iron Cross. In Ch. I had to quickly make +my final preparations, get my passes, etc., for my trip, and now I am +on the way, Dessau-Berlin. On the day I left I had breakfast with the +Kaiser, and he greeted me with:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p><p>“Well, well; we have you in leash now.”</p> + +<p>It is funny that everyone is pleased to see me cooped up for a while. +The sorriest part of all is that I am forced to take this leave just +at a time when the English offensive is developing unprecedented +aerial activity.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Vienna, July 6, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Several incidents happened just before I left Berlin. My train was +scheduled to leave the Zoo at 8:06. A half hour before my departure I +noticed that my “<i>Pour le mérite</i>” was missing. I could not think of +leaving without it. I rode to get it; it had been left in my civilian +clothes, but my valet had already <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>taken these. Of course, there was +no auto in sight, so I had to take a street car, though I was in a +hurry. My valet was, in the meantime, packing my things up. The result +was that I got to the station just as the train was pulling out. At +the same time the valet was at the station at Friedrichstrasse with +all the luggage. After riding around a while we met again at our +house. Fischer was trembling like a leaf, for he thought it was all +his fault. I immediately changed my plan, for the days till the start +of the next Balkan train had to be utilized; so I decided on a flight +to headquarters in Vienna and Budapest. I had the Aerial Division +announce my coming to Vienna, and left that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>night from the Anhalt +Station. As companion, I had a Bohemian Coal Baron, who had only given +30,000,000 marks for war loans; he was very pleasant. Except for a few +attacks by autograph collectors, the trip was eventless. In Tetschen, +at the border, I was relieved of the bother of customs officials +through the kindness of an Austrian officer. It was the lasting grief +of my companion that he had to submit to the customs in spite of all +the letters of recommendation he had.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 7, 1916</span></p> + +<p>In Vienna I was met by a brother aviator at the station. He took me to +the Commander-in-Chief of their Aviation Division, who very kindly +gave me a comrade as guide, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>placed an auto at my disposal. The +same morning I rode to Fischamend. As it was Sunday, I could not do +anything in a military way, and so toward evening my guide and I took +a trip through Vienna, and I let him point out the spots of interest +to me.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 10, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Early in the morning we were on the aviation field at Aspern, which is +somewhat like Adlershof. Here I saw some very interesting machines; +for the first time I saw an Italian Caproni. Also, I was shown a +French machine, in which a crazy Frenchman tried to fly from Nancy to +Russia, <i>via</i> Berlin. He almost succeeded. They say he got as far as +the east front, and was brought <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>down there after flying almost ten +hours. They said he was over Berlin at 12:30 at night. Then there were +some very peculiar-looking Austrian ’planes.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon I reported to the Colonel, who advised me to see the +flying in the mountains near Trient on my way back from the Balkans. I +do not know yet whether or not I will be able to do this; it all +depends on time and circumstances.</p> + +<p>In the late afternoon I went up on the Kahlenberg to see Vienna from +there. I took the trip with a man and his wife, whom I had met on the +train. They seemed very pleased at having my company, and lost no +opportunity to tell me this. To add to my discomfiture, a reporter +interviewed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>me on the way back; he was the first I have met so far. +The fellow had heard by chance that I was in Vienna and had followed +me for two days. He sat opposite me on the inclined railway and I had +a lot of fun keeping him guessing. He was very disappointed that he +had no success with me, but finally consoled himself with the thought +of having spoken with me. In the evening I strolled around Vienna—the +city makes a much quieter impression than Berlin. One feels that +Vienna is more a quiet home town than a modern city.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 11, 1916</span></p> + +<p>To avoid the dreary railroad journey from Vienna to Budapest, I am +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>taking the steamer, and will catch the Balkan train at Budapest. In +that way I will see and enjoy the scenery much more. Even if the trip +cannot compare with one on the Rhine, it is still very beautiful. To +Pressburg the country is hilly; then it is flat country, with trees, +and often forests, on the banks. On the trip a twelve-year-old boy +recognized my face and would not leave me after that. He was a very +amusing chap; knew almost the dates of the days on which I had brought +down my various opponents. The worst thing he knew of, so he told me, +was that his aunt did not even know who Immelmann was. At Komorn the +character of the Danube changes completely. The meadows <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>on the right +disappear, and hills take their place. The left bank is still rather +flat. From Grau, where I photographed the beautiful St. Johann’s +Church, to Waitzen, the country resembles the Rhine Valley very much. +From Waitzen to Budapest, the country is level, but in the distance +one can see wooded hills and the city of Budapest, over which the sun +was just setting as we arrived. The most beautiful of all, is Budapest +itself. It makes a very imposing impression; to the left, the palace +and the old castle; to the right, the hotels and public buildings; +above all, the Parliament Building.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 12, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Slept real late and then walked to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>the castle, where I got a +bird’s-eye view of the city.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon I took a wagon and rode with Lieutenant F. through +Ofen to the Margareten Island. We passed the Parliament and went to +the city park, where we ate a lot of cake at Kugler’s. From there we +walked to the docks. The evening, I spent with some Germans.</p> + +<p>Budapest makes a very modern impression; some of the women are +ultra-modern.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 13, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Slept while passing through Belgrade. Woke up in the middle of Servia, +while passing a station where music was playing. Rode along the Morave +Valley; it is wide and flanked with hills. There are many <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>cornfields +and meadows, with cows grazing. From Nisch (a city of low houses) we +passed through a small valley bordered with high, rocky, hills. Along +the Bulgarian Morave, Pirot (Bulgaria), the district becomes a +plateau, with mountains in the distance. The country is very rocky, +and there is very little farming. The nearer you get to Sofia the more +the country becomes farm land. Finally, it merges into a broad level +plain, with the Balkans in the background. Sofia: a small station, and +small houses. It was getting dark.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 14, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Slept through Adrianople on my way to Turkey. Passed through the +customs.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p><p>Country: Mountainous; little developed; no trees, but now and then +villages, with a few little houses, thatched with straw, and +scattered. For little stretches the country is covered with bushes. +Most of the country is uncultivated, but here and there you see a corn +or potato field.</p> + +<p>The railroad is a one-track affair, with very few sidings. Service +very poor now, due to the war; long waits at the stations.</p> + +<p>The people are poorly clothed, with gaudy sashes and queer headpieces. +Just at present they are celebrating some fast days.</p> + +<p>The women work like the men, but always have a cloth wrapped around +their heads. We met a military <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>transport; the men are brown and +healthy looking. Their whole equipment seemed German in origin.</p> + +<p>Near the ocean, the farming is carried on on a large scale.</p> + +<p>At the Bay of Kutshuk, I saw camels grazing, for the first time.</p> + +<p>The ocean itself seemed brown, green, violet—all colors. At the shore +people were swimming, and there were two anti-aircraft guns mounted.</p> + +<p>St. Stefano is an Oriental town in every sense of the word. At the +shore there are neat little European houses. Here, there is a wireless +station, etc., just as in Johannistal.</p> + +<p>Then came Constantinople. From the train, you cannot see much; mostly +old, dirty houses, that look as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>if they were ready to topple over at +the first puff of wind.</p> + +<p>At the station, I was met by several German aviators, and taken to the +hotel.</p> + +<p>The evening, I spent with some officers and a number of gentlemen from +the German Embassy.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 340px;"><a name="Illo9" id="Illo9"></a> +<img src="images/i169.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="340" height="500" alt="Ready for the Start" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Ready for the Start</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Illo10" id="Illo10"></a> +<img src="images/i170.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="500" height="377" alt="Bölcke and His Brother Max in France (August, 1916)" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Bölcke and His Brother Max in France (August, 1916)</span> +</div> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 15, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Early in the morning I rode to the Great Headquarters and reported to +Enver Pasha, who personally gave me the Iron Crescent. Enver, who is +still young, impressed me as a very agreeable, energetic, man. Then I +went through the Bazar, with an interpreter. This is a network of +streets, alleys and loopholes, in which everything imaginable is sold. +Then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>went to the Agia Sofia, the largest mosque, and to the Sultan Ahmed, +which has been changed to a barracks.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon I went to the <i>General</i> (the ship on which the German +naval officers live). In the evening we were in the Petit Champ, a +little garden in which a German naval band played.</p> + +<p>My valet amuses me. He is very unhappy, because he cannot feel at +home, and is being cheated right and left by the people. He had +pictured Turkey to be an entirely different sort of a place. He was +very indignant because the merchants start at three o’clock, at night, +to go through the streets selling their wares.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">July 16, 1916</span></p> + +<p>In the morning I went out to the <i>General</i> with Lieutenant H. to see a +U-boat.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon, a Greek funeral passed the hotel. The cover of the +coffin is carried ahead and the corpse can be seen in the coffin.</p> + +<p>Later, I wandered around in Galata and saw the Sultan, who was just +coming out of a mosque. First, mounted policemen came; then there was +a mounted bodyguard; then adjutant; then the Sultan in a coach with +four horses; then the same retinue again, in reverse order.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 17, 1916</span></p> + +<p>This morning, I at last had a chance to see something of their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>aviation. We rode through the city in an auto: through Stamboul, +along the old Byzantine city wall, past the cemetery, and a number of +barracks, through the dreary district to St. Stefano, and looked over +the aviation station there. Here, Major S. has made himself quite a +neat bit out of nothing at all. Naturally, under present conditions, +it is very hard for him to get the necessary materials of all sorts.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon I was a guest on board the <i>General</i>.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon I went with Captain D. and other gentlemen, through +the Bosphorus to Therapia, where the German cemetery is wonderfully +situated. Then we inspected a shoe factory at Beikos, and, later, went +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>to the <i>Goeben</i> and <i>Breslau</i>, where I had a splendid reception. +After a brief inspection of both boats, we ate supper and enjoyed a +concert on deck. On leaving, Captain A., commander of the <i>Goeben</i>, +drank a toast to me. Who would have believed this possible a few years +ago.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 18, 1916</span></p> + +<p>To-day I took a pleasure spin on the Sea of Marmora, with S.’s +adjutant, and his motorboat. We passed the Sultan’s palace and went to +Skutari, where I made a short stop. Then we went to the Princes’ +Islands, where we landed at Princepu. Princepu is to Constantinople +what Grunewald or Wannsee is to Berlin. It is a wonderful island, +hilly and situated in the middle <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>of the sea. All the wealthy have +summer homes here, and most of Constantinople takes a trip here +Saturday and Sunday. In the Casino, from which there is a beautiful +view of the sea, we drank coffee. Toward evening we reached home, +after first sailing around the neighboring islands, on one of which +the captured defender of Kut-el-Amara lives in a very nice villa.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 19, 1916</span></p> + +<p>At nine, we left for Panderma. The Sea of Marmora was quite calm; at +first there were some waves, but later it was very still. The ship was +filled with natives; quite a few women, and some officers. Panderma: a +small seaport (many small <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>sail-boats), situated at the foot of a +mountain, and made up, mostly, of small frame houses. We were met by +small government vessels, while the others were taken off by native +boats. After a short wait, we started our trip in a Pullman car (the +train was made up specially for us). As far as Manias Gör the country +is monotonous; a few boats on the sea, and quite a few storks. In the +Sursulu-Su Valley there are more villages, well-built, meadows, fruit +trees, and large herds of oxen and flocks of sheep. A good road runs +next to the railroad. Then it became dark. Slept well after a good +supper.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">July 20, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Woke up south of Akbissal. Country very pretty, cultivated and +fertile, with many herds of cattle; caravans of camel, with a mule as +leader.</p> + +<p>The plains became more pretty as we went on. Smyrna is beautifully +situated. At the station I met Buddecke and several other men. I got a +room in the Hotel Kramer, right at the sea. From my balcony I have a +view over the whole Gulf of Smyrna. In the afternoon, I took a walk +after reporting to His Excellency Liman-Sanders. Went through the +Bazar, which is not so large as in Stamboul.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">July 21, 1916</span></p> + +<p>At ten we went to the aviation field at Svedi Kos, south of Smyrna. +The aviators live in a school. Close to the field there are the tents +of a division. The Turkish soldiers made a good impression.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 22, 1916</span></p> + +<p>In the morning went swimming at Cordelio, with several ladies and +gentlemen. Buddecke met us with a yacht. We had a fine sail. The view +of the hills from the gulf was beautiful.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 23, 1916</span></p> + +<p>In the morning, again went to Cordelio for a swim, and took some jolly +pictures.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">July 24, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Slept late. In the afternoon took a sail with several gentlemen to the +future landing spot for seaplanes.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 25, 1916</span></p> + +<p>In the morning I strolled about alone in the outlying parts of Smyrna. +Here, things look much more “oriental.”</p> + +<p>Now I have to take the long trip to Constantinople <i>via</i> Panderma, +then to the Dardanelles. I lose eight days this way, for which I am +exceedingly sorry. In an airplane, I could make it in two and a half +hours, but Buddecke will not let me have any. He has a thousand and +one reasons for not giving me one, but I believe he has instructions +to that effect.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">July 29, 1916</span></p> + +<p>On July 28th I went aboard a gunboat bound for Chanak, with a tow. +Gallipoli is a village, with a number of outlying barracks. Several +houses on the shore were destroyed by gunfire. Arrived in Chanak +toward noon, and went to Merten-Pasha to report. In the afternoon I +went to the aviation field and flew over Troy—Kum Kale—Sedil Bar, to +the old English position. The flight was beautiful, and the islands of +Imbros and Tenedos were as if floating on the clear sea. In the Bay of +Imbros we could plainly see the English ships. Outside of the usual +maze of trenches we could plainly see the old English camps. Close to +Thalaka there was an English U-Boat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>and a Turkish cruiser, both sunk, +and lying partly out of water. At Sedil Bar, a number of steamers and +a French battleship were aground. The dead, hilly peninsula was +plainly visible. At Kilid Bar, there were large Turkish barracks.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 30, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Went on a small steamer to Sedil Bar. We got off a little before we +reached our destination, to go over the whole position with a naval +officer, who awaited us. The difference between the Turkish and +English positions was striking. The English, of course, had had more +and better material to work with. Now it is nothing but a deserted +wreck. Then I looked at the English <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>landing places. Here, the +Englishmen had simply run a few steamers aground to protect +themselves. After a hasty breakfast, I flew to D. with M. and from +there, along the north shore of the Sea of Marmora, to St. Stefano.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 31, 1916</span></p> + +<p>To-day was Bairam (Turkish Easter). Flags everywhere; people all +dressed in their best; large crowds on the street; sale of crescent +flowers on the streets, and parades.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 1, 1916</span></p> + +<p>After a short stay in the War Department and the Bazar, I left for +Constantinople. Enver Pasha travels on the same train. He had me +brought to him by his servant at tea <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>time. He was very talkative and +interesting, and talked almost only German.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 2, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Toward eleven o’clock, after an enjoyable trip through a +well-cultivated section of Rumania, I arrived in Sofia, after passing +a Turkish military train. Here I was received by a number of German +aviators. In the afternoon, took a trip through Sofia, which makes the +same impression as one of the central German capitals. Short visit in +the cadet school, then went to the large cathedral.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 3, 1916</span></p> + +<p>The military finish I noticed in the cadet school the day before +impressed me favorably. H. and I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>went to the aviation field in Sofia; +most of the machines were Ottos.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon, I went to the flying school with H. Our guide, +Captain P., showed us as special attraction a Blériot, which he had. +The school is still in the first stages of development. From there we +went to the resort called Banje, which is nicely located.</p> + +<p>In the evening, I was at supper with a military attaché, and met +Prince Kyrill. He interested me very much, and talked quite +intelligently about a number of things.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 4, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Early in the morning, I reported to the Bulgarian Secretary of War, +who conversed with me for a long <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>while. He is small in stature and +talks German fluently. Then I visited a cavalry barracks, where I also +saw the new machine-gun companies. Toward evening I took a stroll in +the Boris Gardens, and admired the beauty of Sofia.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 5, 1916</span></p> + +<p>After an audience with the Bulgarian Chief of Staff, I went to Uskub +<i>via</i> Kustendil in an auto. Fischer, my valet, who was along, had to +get out <i>en route</i> to make all our train arrangements. In Kustendil, +I stopped over, and at the Casino I was with the Bulgarian Chief of +Staff. Then there was an interesting trip to Uskub, where I arrived at +nine o’clock.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">August 6, 1916</span></p> + +<p>In the afternoon I was with General Mackensen, and sat next to him +at the table. Mackensen talked with me for quite a while. He is +serious-looking, but not nearly as stern as his pictures lead one +to believe.</p> + +<p>Later, I went by train to Hudova, and reached aviation headquarters, +where I was given a fine welcome in the barracks. The aviators all +live in wooden shacks, in a dreary neighborhood. This is not an +enviable place to be, especially since they have had nothing to do +for months.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 7, 1916</span></p> + +<p>In the morning I paid a visit to another division of flyers, and with +Captain E. I flew up and down the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>Greek front. Then I went back to +Uskub, where I spent the night.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 8, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Went back to Sofia in the auto. Had several punctures, which were +really funny, because my Bulgarian chauffeur and I could converse by +sign language only. On the road, not far from Kumanova, there was a +Macedonian fair, which was very interesting. The peasants, in white +clothes, danced an odd but pretty dance, to music played on bagpipes +and other instruments.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 9, 1916</span></p> + +<p>This morning, shortly before I left, I received a Bulgarian medal +for courage. This was presented to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>me by the adjutant of the Minister +of War, together with the latter’s picture. I am now going to the +Austrian headquarters, from where I mean to see the east front. I +don’t know yet how I will get the time.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 10, 1916</span></p> + +<p>In the afternoon, short auto ride; in the evening, reported to General +Conrad.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 11, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Presented myself at Archduke Frederick’s and met General Cramon. At +eleven o’clock, went on toward Kovel.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 12, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Arrived in Kovel about eight. Reported to General Linsingen.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">August 15, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Rode to Brest, which is gutted by fire.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 16, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Reported to General Ludendorff. Before eating was presented to Field +Marshal Hindenburg. At table, sat between Hindenburg and Ludendorff. +In the afternoon, flew to Warsaw.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 17, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Rode to Wilna.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 18, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Rode to Kovno and then to Berlin.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 180-3]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="TO_THE_FORTIETH_VICTORY" id="TO_THE_FORTIETH_VICTORY"></a>TO THE FORTIETH VICTORY<br /> +(Fleet Battles)</h2> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Letter of September 4, 1916</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Parents</span>:</p> + +<p>To your surprise, you no doubt have read of my twentieth victory. You +probably did not expect I would be doing much flying while arranging +my new division.</p> + +<p>A few days ago two new Fokkers arrived for me, and yesterday I made my +first flight. At the front, the enemy was very active. They have grown +quite rash. While I was enjoying a peaceful sail behind our lines, one +came to attack me. I paid no attention to him (he was higher than I). +A little later I saw bombs <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>bursting near P. Here I found a B.-E. +biplane, and with him three Vickers’ one-man machines, evidently a +scout with its protectors. I attacked the B.-E., but in the midst of +my work the other three disturbed me so I had to run. One of them +thought he could get me in spite of this, and followed me. A little +apart from the rest, I offered battle, and soon I had him. I did not +let him go; he had no more ammunition left. In descending, he swayed +heavily from side to side. As he said later, this was involuntary; I +had crippled his machine. He came down northeast of Th. The aviator +jumped out of his burning machine and beat about with hands and +feet, for he was also afire. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>went home to get fresh supplies of +cartridges and start anew, for more Englishmen were coming. But I had +no success. Yesterday I got the Englishman, whom I had captured, from +the prisoners’ camp and took him to the Casino for coffee. I showed +him our aviation field and learned a lot of interesting things from +him. My field is slowly nearing completion and I am exceedingly busy.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Illo11" id="Illo11"></a> +<img src="images/i193.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="500" height="340" alt="One of His Last Victims" title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">One of His Last Victims</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;"><a name="Illo12" id="Illo12"></a> +<img src="images/i194.jpg" class="jpg gap" width="355" height="500" alt="Starting on His Last Ride October 28, 1916—5 p. m." title="" /> +<span class="caption smcap">Starting on His Last Ride October 28, 1916—5 p. m.</span> +</div> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">September 17, 1916</span></p> + +<p>In the meantime, I have made my total twenty-five.</p> + +<p>Number 21 I tackled single-handed. The fight with this Vickers biplane +did not take very long. I attacked him at an angle from behind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>(the +best; to get him from directly behind is not so good, since the motor +acts as a protection). In vain he tried to get out of this poor +position; I did not give him the chance. I came so close to him that +my machine was smutted by the ensuing explosion of his ’plane. He +fell, twisting like a boomerang. The observer fell out of the machine +before it struck.</p> + +<p>Number 22 was quite bold; with his companions, he was sailing over our +front, attacking our machines. This was too bad for him as well as one +of his friends, who was shot down by two Rumplers. Number 22 fell in +exactly the same way as 21 fell the day before, only he landed within +his own lines.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p><p>Number 23 was a hard one. I had headed off the squadron he was with +and picked the second one. He started to get away. The third attacked +Lieutenant R., and was soon engaged by Lieutenants B. and R., but, +nevertheless, escaped within his own lines. My opponent pretended to +fall after the first shots. I knew this trick, and followed him +closely. He really was trying to escape to his own lines. He did not +succeed. At M. he fell. His wings broke off and the machine broke into +pieces. As he lies so far behind our front I did not get a chance to +inspect the wreck. Once, however, I flew over it at a very low +altitude.</p> + +<p>After a short while I saw several Englishmen circling over P. When <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>I +got nearer, they wanted to attack me. As I was lower, I paid no +attention to them, but turned away. As they saw I would not fight, one +of them attacked another German machine. I could not allow this to go +on. I attacked him and he soon had to suffer for it. I shot up his +gasoline and oil tanks and wounded him in the right thigh. He landed +and was captured. That was Number 24.</p> + +<p>Number 25 had to wait till the next day. A fleet of seven Englishmen +passed over our field. Behind them I rose and cut off their retreat. +At P. I got near them. I was the lower and, therefore, almost +defenseless. This they took advantage of, and attacked me. Nerve! But +I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>soon turned the tables and got my sights on one of them. I got nice +and close to him, and let him have about 500 shots at forty meters. +Then he had enough. Lieutenant von R. fired a few more shots at him, +but he was finished without them. At H. he fell in a forest and was +completely wrecked.</p> + +<p>Things are very lively here. The Englishmen always appear in swarms. I +regret I did not have enough machines for all my men. Yesterday the +first consignment arrived. The other half will come very soon. They +shot down two Englishmen yesterday, and there won’t be many Englishmen +left in a little while.</p> + +<p>Yesterday, my officer for special <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>service arrived; he will relieve me +of a lot of work. Nevertheless, my time is well occupied, even when +not flying. There is a lot to do if one has to make a division out of +practically nothing. But it pleases me to see things gradually work +out as I plan them.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>LATER</i></p> + +<p>In the meantime, things have changed considerably. Two of my men and I +got into an English squadron and had a thorough housecleaning. Each of +us brought down an Englishman. We are getting along fine; since last +night five Englishmen. I shot down the leader, which I recognized +by little flags on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>one of the planes. He landed at E. and set his +machine afire. His observer was slightly wounded. When I arrived in an +auto they had both been taken away. He had landed because I had shot +his engine to pieces.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Letter of October 8, 1916</span></p> + +<p>Yesterday you read of Number 30, but even that is a back number. +Number 31 has followed its predecessors.</p> + +<p>On September 17th came Number 27. With some of my men I attacked a +squadron of F.-E. biplanes on the way back from C. Of these, we shot +down six out of eight. Only two escaped. I picked out the leader, and +shot up his engine so he had to land. It landed right near one of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>our +kite-balloons. They were hardly down when the whole airplane was +ablaze. It seems they have some means of destroying their machine as +soon as it lands. On September 19th six of us got into an English +squadron. Below us were the machines with lattice-work tails, and +above were some Morans, as protection. One of these I picked out, and +sailed after him. For a moment he escaped me, but west of B. I caught +up with him. One machine gun jammed, but the other I used with telling +effect. At short range, I fired at him till he fell in a big blaze. +During all this, he handled himself very clumsily. This was Number 28.</p> + +<p>On September 27th I met seven <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>English machines, near B. I had started +on a patrol flight with four of my men, and we saw a squadron I first +thought was German. When we met southwest of B., I saw they were enemy +’planes. We were lower and I changed my course. The Englishmen passed +us, flew over to us, flew around our kite-balloon and then set out for +their own front. However, in the meantime, we had reached their height +and cut off their retreat. I gave the signal to attack, and a general +battle started. I attacked one; got too close; ducked under him and, +turning, saw an Englishman fall like a plummet.</p> + +<p>As there were enough others left I picked out a new one. He tried to +escape, but I followed him. I fired round <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>after round into him. His +stamina surprised me. I felt he should have fallen long ago, but he +kept going in the same circle. Finally, it got too much for me. I knew +he was dead long ago, and by some freak, or due to elastic controls, +he did not change his course. I flew quite close to him and saw the +pilot lying dead, half out of his seat. To know later which was the +’plane I had shot down (for eventually he must fall), I noted the +number—7495. Then I left him and attacked the next one. He escaped, +but I left my mark on him. As I passed close under him I saw a great +hole I had made in his fuselage. He will probably not forget this day. +I had to work like a Trojan.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><p>Number 30 was very simple, I surprised a scout above our front—we +call these scouts “Häschen” (rabbits)—fired at him; he tilted, and +disappeared.</p> + +<p>The fall of Number 31 was a wonderful sight. We, five men and myself, +were amusing ourselves attacking every French or English machine we +saw, and firing our guns to test them. This did not please our +opponents at all. Suddenly, far below me, I saw one fellow circling +about, and I went after him. At close range I fired at him, aiming +steadily. He made things easy for me, flying a straight course. I +stayed twenty or thirty meters behind him and pounded him till he +exploded with a great yellow flare. We cannot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>call this a fight, +because I surprised my opponent.</p> + +<p>Everything goes well with me; healthy, good food, good quarters, good +companions, and plenty to do.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">October 19, 1916</span></p> + +<p>My flying has been quite successful in the last few days.</p> + +<p>On October 13th some of my men and I got into a fleet of Vickers +machines of about equal number. They did not care to fight, and tried +to get away. We went after them. I attacked one, saw that Lieutenant +K. was already after him, picked another, attacked him above P. and +fired two volleys at him. I descended about 400 meters doing this and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>had to let him go, because two others were after me, which I did not +appreciate. He had to land at his artillery positions, however.</p> + +<p>On the 15th of October, there was a lot to do. Lately, the English +attack at two or three o’clock in the afternoon, because they have the +notion that we are asleep. Just at this hour we went out. Between T. +and S. we had a housecleaning; that is, we attacked and chased every +Englishman we could find. I regret that during this only one fell (M. +shot down his fourth). Shortly after that I saw a scout amusing +himself above the lines. I attacked and finished him first thing; I +guess I must have killed the pilot instantly. The machine crashed to +earth so violently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>that it raised a huge cloud of dust. That was +Number 33.</p> + +<p>On October 10th, in the afternoon, I got into a fleet of six Vickers’ +machines. I had a fine time. The English leader came just right for +me, and I settled it after the first attack. With the pilot dead, it +fell, and I watched till it struck, and then picked out another. My +men were having a merry time with the other Englishmen. One Englishman +favored me by coming quite close to me, and I followed him close to +the ground. Still, by skillful flying, he escaped.</p> + +<p>The day was a good one for my command. Lieutenant R. brought down his +fifth, and Lieutenant S. got one, so that in all we got five that day.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p><p>On the 16th I got Number 35. After some fruitless flying I saw six +Vickers over our lines. These I followed, with Lieutenant B. From +command—there were also three machines present. Lieutenant Leffers +attacked one and forced him to earth (his eighth). The others were all +grouped together in a bunch. I picked out the lowest and forced him to +earth. The Englishmen did not try to help him, but let me have him, +unmolested. After the second volley he caught fire and fell.</p> + +<p>It is peculiar that so many of my opponents catch fire. The others, in +jest, say it is mental suggestion; they say all I need do is attack +one of the enemy and he catches fire or, at least, loses a wing.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p><p>The last few days we had poor weather. Nothing to do.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="center"><i>THE LAST REPORTS</i></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">October 20, 1916</span></p> + +<p>At 10:30 in the morning, five of my men and I attacked a squadron of +six F.-E. biplanes, coming from D. The machine I attacked fell in its +own lines after first losing its observer.</p> + +<p>It is lying, a wreck, five hundred meters west of A.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">October 22, 1916</span></p> + +<p>11:45—Several of my men and I headed off two enemy biplanes coming +from the east. Both fell. The one I attacked was shot apart.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">October 22, 1916</span></p> + +<p>About 3:40 in the afternoon I saw an English machine attack two of our +biplanes. I attacked immediately, and forced him to land, although he +tried to escape.</p> + +<p>Southwest of the forest at G. he landed in a huge shell-hole and broke +his machine. The pilot was thrown out.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">October 25, 1916</span></p> + +<p>This morning, near M., I brought down an English B.-E. biplane.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">October 26, 1916</span></p> + +<p>About 4:45 seven of our machines, of which I had charge, attacked some +English biplanes west of P.</p> + +<p>I attacked one and wounded the observer, so he was unable to fire at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>me. At the second attack the machine started to smoke. Both pilot and +observer seemed dead. It fell into the second line English trenches +and burned up. As I was attacked by a Vickers machine after going two +or three hundred meters, I did not see this. According to the report +of Group A., at A. o. K. 1., a B.-E. machine, attacked by one of our +one-man machines, had fallen. This must have been mine.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p class="center"><i>FROM THE LAST LETTER</i></p> + +<p>... Mother does not need to worry about me; things are not so terrible +as she pictures them. She just needs to think of all the experience <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>I +have had at this work, not to mention our advantage in knowledge of +how to fly and shoot.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p>Telegram from the front.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></p> + +<p>“October 28, 1916, 7:30 in the evening.</p> + +<p>“Prepare parents: Oswald mortally injured to-day over German lines.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">“Wilhelm.</span>”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Footnotes:</span></h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> The result of this was that the English wireless news +service asserted the next day: “Yesterday Adjutant Ribière succeeded +in bringing down the famous Captain Bölcke in an air battle at +Verdun.” In the meantime I have relieved him of this misapprehension.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> To his sister.</p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Notes:</span></h3> + +<p>1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters’ errors; otherwise +every effort has been made to remain true to the author’s words and intent.</p> + +<p>2. The original of this book did not have a Table of Contents; one has been added +for the reader’s convenience.</p> + +<p>3. In the Introduction, Professor Bölcke quotes a speaker at the funeral service; +this quote was left open in error by the typesetter; the transcriber has closed the quote +where it appears most appropriate.</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30011 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30011-h/images/i004.jpg b/30011-h/images/i004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..95e1cdc --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i004.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i005.jpg b/30011-h/images/i005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c96f4f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i005.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i033.jpg b/30011-h/images/i033.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e29aae9 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i033.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i034.jpg b/30011-h/images/i034.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5131e27 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i034.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i067.jpg b/30011-h/images/i067.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2f0652 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i067.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i068.jpg b/30011-h/images/i068.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4987359 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i068.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i101.jpg b/30011-h/images/i101.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb56953 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i101.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i102.jpg b/30011-h/images/i102.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f347d99 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i102.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i151.jpg b/30011-h/images/i151.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb23991 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i151.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i152.jpg b/30011-h/images/i152.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f66ba87 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i152.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i169.jpg b/30011-h/images/i169.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..17777d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i169.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i170.jpg b/30011-h/images/i170.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..83fa400 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i170.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i193.jpg b/30011-h/images/i193.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd91fc2 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i193.jpg diff --git a/30011-h/images/i194.jpg b/30011-h/images/i194.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..49764e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/30011-h/images/i194.jpg |
