DOUAUMONT.
_October_ 24, 1916.
It is maddening. It is raining. At the aviation field where I
am, everybody is effervescent. The first results of the day are
magnificent, the _poilus_ advanced along the entire line!
Unluckily it is necessary to renounce any thought of flying and the
attendant consternation is general. Some "cuckoos" essayed to go up in
the driving rain. They kept close to earth--they flew blindly and were
shot at a few times----
We must remain inactive and powerless all day, when the others are
participating in the fête!
Toward two-thirty o'clock the dark clouds in the south, part----The
"cuckoos" leave their hangars, although many of the pilots are
skeptical of the weather----
At three-fifteen a blue canopy in the heavens--at last! The whirring
drowns everything--everyone hurries--one after the other they shoot out
and take the air. Soon, perhaps, it will be too late----After having
described a large circle over the field to gain altitude, they leave in
groups, going northward----
Major Armengaud and I have decided to leave in our turn. I am really
thrilled, I avow, at the idea of flying during the battle----
* * * * *
Some instants after, roads, flat stretches, forests, flit by beneath
us. At the end of ten minutes' flight, we were in a rather thick
mist--but what matter----!
We fly over the Meuse to the north of Verdun--we are 4,000 feet high
and penetrate a thick cloud. We reach clear space. The air is full of
_avions_--there are more than eighty! _Chasse_ squadrons cross the
horizon. The "sausages" are all up as usual. The sky is marvelous.
There are vacant spaces of gilded light to our left--Verdun is somewhat
in the haze. To the north the sky is clear--I see the most gorgeous
spectacle that my eyes have ever beheld! The cannonade thunders and
a thousand flashes burst from the mouths of our guns. Our exploding
projectiles form a regular and mobile parabola, marking the advance of
our troops----
The enemy reacts but feebly and his barrage is laid down over our old
lines. Shell-holes filled with water appear like cups brimming with
molten gold! To the west the sky is reddish scarlet; to the east all is
steel blue----
We return closer to earth. Our barrage has gone beyond Fort
Douaumont--our 400's are still breaking on Fort Vaux; great columns of
dirt rise more than 125 yards in height----