THE name "Siegfried position" is probably known to every
young man in Germany. During the time when we withdrew towards the Siegfried
line the activity in the air was of course very great. We allowed our enemies
to occupy the territory which we had evacuated but we did not allow them to
occupy the air as well. The chaser squadron which Boelcke had trained looked
after the English flying men. The English had hitherto fought a war of position
in the air and they ventured to abandon it for a war of movement only with the
utmost caution.
That was the time when Prince Frederick Charles gave his
life for the Fatherland.
In the course of a hunting expedition of the Boelcke Chaser
Squadron, Lieutenant Voss had defeated an Englishman in an aerial duel. He was
forced to go down to the ground and landed in neutral territory between the
lines, in No Man's Land. In this particular case we had abandoned a stretch of
territory but the enemy had not yet occupied it. Only English and German
patrols were about in the unoccupied zone. The English flying machine was
standing between the two lines. Our good Englishman probably believed that the
ground was already in English possession and he was justified in thinking so.
Lieutenant Voss was of a different opinion. Without a
moment's hesitation he landed close to his victim. With great rapidity he
transferred the Englishman's machine-guns and other useful things to his own
aeroplane, took a match and in a few minutes the English machine stood in
flames. Then he waved smilingly from his victorious aeroplane to the English
who were rushing along from all sides and was off.
My First Double Event
THE second of April, l9l7, was a very warm day for my
Squadron. From my quarters I could clearly hear the drum-fire of the guns which
was again particularly violent.
I was still in bed when my orderly rushed into the room and
exclaimed: "Sir, the English are here !" Sleepy as I was, I looked out of the
window and, really, there were my dear friends circling over the flying ground.
I jumped out of my bed and into my clothes in a jiffy. My Red Bird had been
pulled out and was ready for starting. My mechanics knew that I should probably
not allow such a favorable moment to go by un-utilized. Everything was ready. I
snatched up my furs and then went off.
I was the last to start. My comrades were much nearer to the
enemy. I feared that my prey would escape me, that I should have to look on
from a distance while the others were fighting. Suddenly one of the impertinent
fellows tried to drop down upon me. I allowed him to come near and then we
started a merry quadrille. Sometimes my opponent flew on his back and sometimes
he did other tricks. He had a double-seated chaser. I was his master and very
soon I recognized that he could not escape me.
During an interval in the fighting I convinced myself that
we were alone. It followed that the victory would accrue to him who was
calmest, who shot best and who had the clearest brain in a moment of danger.
After a short time I got him beneath me without seriously hurting him with my
gun. We were at least two kilometers from the front. I thought he intended to
land but there I had made a mistake. Suddenly, when he was only a few yards
above the ground, he once more went off on a straight course. He tried to
escape me. That was too bad. I attacked him again and I went so low that I
feared I should touch the roofs of the houses of the village beneath me. The
Englishman defended himself up to the last moment. At the very end I felt that
my engine had been hit. Still I did not let go. He had to fall. He rushed at
full speed right into a block of houses.
There was little left to be done. This was once more a case
of splendid daring. He defended himself to the last. However, in my opinion he
showed more foolhardiness than courage. This was one of the cases where one
must differentiate between energy and idiocy. He had to come down in any case
but he paid for his stupidity with his life.
I was delighted with the performance of my red machine
during its morning work and returned to our quarters. My comrades were still in
the air and they were very surprised, when, as we met at breakfast, I told them
that I had scored my thirty-second machine. A very young Lieutenant had
"bagged" his first aeroplane. We were all very merry and prepared everything
for further battles. I then went and groomed myself. I had not had time to do
it previously. I was visited by a dear friend, Lieutenant Voss of Boelcke's
Squadron. We chatted. Voss had downed on the previous day his twenty-third
machine. He was next to me on the list and is at present my most redoubtable
competitor.
When he started to fly home I offered to accompany him part
of the way. We went on a roundabout way over the Fronts. The weather had turned
so bad that we could not hope to find any more game.
Beneath us there were dense clouds. Voss did not know the
country and he began to feel uncomfortable. When we passed above Arras I met my
brother who also is in my squadron and who had lost his way. He joined us. Of
course he recognized me at once by the color of my machine.
Suddenly we saw a squadron approaching from the other side.
Immediately the thought occurred to me: "Now comes number thirty-three."
Although there were nine Englishmen and although they were on their own
territory they preferred to avoid battle. I thought that perhaps it would be
better for me to re-paint my machine. Nevertheless we caught them up. The
important thing in aeroplanes is that they are speedy.
I was nearest to the enemy and attacked the man to the
rear. To my greatest delight I noticed that he accepted battle and my pleasure
was increased when I discovered that his comrades deserted him. So I had once
more a single fight. It was a fight similar to the one which I had had in the
morning. My opponent did not make matters easy for me. He knew the fighting
business and it was particularly awkward for me that he was a good shot. To my
great regret that was quite clear to me.
A favorable wind came to my aid. It drove both of us into
the German lines. My opponent discovered that the matter was not so simple as
he had imagined. So he plunged and disappeared in a cloud. He had nearly saved
himself.
I plunged after him and dropped out of the cloud and, as
luck would have it, found myself close behind him. I fired and he fired without
any tangible result. At last I hit him. I noticed a ribbon of white benzine
vapor. He had to land for his engine had come to a stop.
He was a stubborn fellow. He was bound to recognize that he
had lost the game. If he continued shooting I could kill him, for meanwhile we
had dropped to an altitude of about nine hundred feet. However, the Englishman
defended himself exactly as did his countryman in the morning. He fought until
he landed. When he had come to the ground I flew over him at an altitude of
about thirty feet in order to ascertain whether I had killed him or not. What
did the rascal do? He took his machine-gun and shot holes into my machine.
Afterwards Voss told me if that had happened to him he would
have shot the airman on the ground. As a matter of fact I ought to have done so
for he had not surrendered. He was one of the few fortunate fellows who escaped
with their lives.
I felt very merry, flew home and celebrated my thirty-third
aeroplane.
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