Two German aviation officers had to land near a Belgian village and were
attacked by the local residents, who armed themselves with shotguns. One
of the Germans succeeded in seizing the village magistrate as a hostage,
and while he kept his pistol at that official’s head his companion
repaired the motor. They then made the magistrate mount the aeroplane,
which luckily was able to ascend with three passengers, and sped away.
Two other German airmen whose aeroplane was wrecked when it came down
were dazed and stunned from their fall. Immediately they were attacked
by a group of French peasants armed with pitchforks and scythes. The
Germans held these men at bay with their revolvers until they reached
the dense woods, in which they hid.
Peasants and soldiers hunted them systematically for days. They spent
anxious hours crouching in holes like rabbits, while their pursuers
fired shotguns and rifles into every suspicious thicket. They lived on
beets and the only water they had was dew, which they sucked from
leaves. Their minds almost gave way under the strain and they were
burning with fever when a German patrol found them.