ENEMY ACTIVITY
In November, 1916, a series of brilliant conquests by British and
French aviators had reduced the Germans to a secondary, if not
actually a futile, part in the air. But after a period of bad weather
and a lull in the fighting, German aviators again ventured over the
Allies’ lines. Their enterprise, however, was short-lived. Proof of
the Allies’ superiority was again seen on November 10 in an important
aerial victory over the German lines. Thirty British machines defeated
a greater number of the enemy—his strength is believed to have been
between thirty and forty—while on a bombing expedition between Bapaume
and Arras. The fact worth remembering is that the British airmen were
not turned off, but that they punished their assailants decisively and
then fulfilled their obligations as ordered, delivering seventy-two
high explosive bombs on Vaulx-Vraucourt with satisfactory effect.
‘It is a pity,’ writes Mr. Percival Phillips, special correspondent of
the _Daily Express_, ‘that such a thrilling episode of aerial warfare
cannot be told in detail—but there are very few details to be had. The
only eye-witnesses at close range were the intrepid airmen involved,
who were so fully occupied with their own individual opponents that it
was impossible to follow the fortunes of the entire enemy fleet until
its ignominious disappearance. I am told, in the dry, matter-of-fact
language of our airmen, that the British bombing ‘planes, flying at
pre-arranged altitudes in a westerly wind, surrounded by their escort,
sighted the German battle machines climbing through the rising mist to
try to intercept them. The British fleet dropped to accept battle, and
they closed a mile above the German trenches.
‘Then followed a breathless, furious duel, fought at a dizzy speed as
the opposing ‘planes swirled and eddied through the clouds, intent on
each other’s destruction. Machine-gun bullets ripped their hulls. They
circled and dived with amazing confidence and accuracy. British and
Germans alike drove their craft with superb skill, for the science of
fighting in the air has become as intricate and difficult as handling
a group of Dreadnoughts. No longer do the aeroplanes barge blindly at
each other, firing point-blank, like old ships of the line. The expert
crews twist and dodge in a manner undreamed of even a few short months
ago, working their guns with nice discrimination, perhaps putting in
one skilful shot where the pioneer guns of the air would have wasted
half a drum. The battle was won as much by good airmanship as by the
work of individual gunners. The German pilots were out-manœuvred. When
at last their machines had enough of the fight—three of them had
reeled earthwards, smoking wrecks—they dropped beyond range to examine
their wounds, and the victorious British fleet passed on its way, in
full view of the great army of spectators gazing upwards from the
fields, road, and trenches below.’
Besides the three German ‘planes destroyed, others were sent down more
or less damaged, but the full extent of the enemy casualties could not
be ascertained. A broken aeroplane does not drop like a stone. It takes
three or four minutes to reach the earth, and there is not time during
an engagement for the men who are fighting to follow the progress of
every crippled machine in its aimless descent.
The British casualties for the day’s work were two bombing machines
and two escorting machines missing, one observer killed and two pilots
wounded. Of the latter, one managed to alight inside the British lines;
the other came down in ‘No Man’s Land.’
The special correspondent of the _Times_ describing the same battle
writes: ‘It is a long time since the German initiated anything new in
the air. Now, in his recrudescence of activity he is doing his best
to learn from us. He copies exactly our methods, formations, and air
tactics. In the recent moonlight nights especially his airmen have been
penetrating behind our lines, trying to bomb rail-heads and transport,
and so forth; and individual Germans are even getting so bold as to
do what we have done for the last four months, namely, fly low enough
to use their machine-guns on troops in trenches or on columns on the
road. So far, they are making little by it; and they are having a most
exciting time. One of the chief evidences of the new activity has been
the great aerial battle, wherein some seventy aeroplanes were engaged,
which the official communiqué has already mentioned. It took place
between nine and ten o’clock on the morning of November 9, well over
the German lines in the direction of Vaulx-Vraucourt, whither certain
of our aeroplanes were bound on a bombing expedition. With them were
fighting machines and scouts, making in all a fleet of thirty sail.
Near the villa of Mory, just before reaching Vaulx-Vraucourt, they
sighted an enemy squadron somewhat outnumbering themselves, the actual
strength being something from thirty-six to forty aeroplanes.
‘They attacked at once. Some of our machines were flying at a higher
level than the enemy, and they plunged headlong to join in the general
engagement, which was fought at an average height of not much above
5,000 feet. Of the mêlée which followed, it is impossible to get any
coherent account, for no man in it had time or thought for anything
except the enemy machines with which he was successively engaged; but
for twenty minutes there raged among the clouds such a battle as the
world has never seen before: an inextricable tangle of single combats,
of darting, swirling machines, the air filled with the roar of seventy
propellers and the chatter of guns.
‘Four of our machines were lost, that is to say, that they were
compelled to descend in German territory, a strong westerly wind
drifting the battle as it raged more and more over enemy’s soil. In the
ships which came home, one brought a dead observer, and two others,
with wounded pilots, had difficulty in beating up against the wind and
landing in our lines. Of the enemy we know that six machines were sent
to earth, of which three are known to have crashed. What happened to
the other three, beyond that they were falling out of control, is not
known. In yet another the pilot was seen to be shot dead. What further
casualties the enemy suffered he only is aware; but the best evidence
that the victory was ours lies in the fact that the whole enemy
formation was broken and scattered. The Germans fled for safety in all
directions, leaving us in possession of the sky. Then we went upon our
business; we punctually dropped our bombs on the stores and ammunition
depots of Vaulx-Vraucourt, and then came home proudly flying in regular
formation, no German daring to interfere.’
Again and again the Germans have made desperate efforts to snatch the
control of the air from the firm grasp of the Allies, but without
the desired result. The Allies’ aviators are not to be beaten. Their
enterprise, their courage, above all their heroic bearing, are proof
against all attacks.