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 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.
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 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 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 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.
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 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 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.
In this summer he and his brother Martin had the adventure on the
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 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.
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 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 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.
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, 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.
[Illustration: AFTER HIS FIRST VICTORY]
[Illustration: THE ENEMY'S AEROPLANE IN RUINS]
FROM THE BEGINNING OF
THE WAR TO THE FIRST
VICTORY