The story of the air battle of March 23-24 reads like one of the most
extraordinary adventure tales ever imagined. The struggle began with
squadrons of airplanes ascending and manoeuvring as perfectly as
cavalry. They rose to dizzy heights, and, descending, swept the air
close to the ground. The individual pilots of the opposing sides now
began executing all manner of movements, climbing, diving, turning in
every direction, and seeking to get into the best position to pour
machine-gun fire into enemy airplanes. Every few minutes a machine
belonging to an allied or German squadron crashed to the ground, often
in flames. At the end of the first day's fighting wrecked airplanes and
the mangled bodies of aviators lay strewn all over the battlefield.
All next day, March 24, the struggle in the air went on with unabated
fury. The allied air squadrons were now on the offensive and penetrated
far inside the German lines. The German aviators counterattacked
whenever they could, and more than once succeeded in crossing the
French lines. But at the close of the second day victory rested with
the allied airmen, and during the next five days scarcely a German
airplane took the air.
The nature of the military operations on the earth below during these
five days, (March 25-29,) favored the allied airmen and permitted them
to secure important results in attacking infantry. The Germans were
advancing through the valley of the Oise and across the Picardy plains,
while the Allies were endeavoring bring up sufficient reserves to hold
back the advance. The fighting was now in the open, and except for
walls, trees, and ditches there was practically no cover of which the
Germans could take advantage. This was exactly what suited the allied
air squadrons as they sallied forth to harass and hamper the advancing
German columns, which they attacked by day and night. Many German units
were completely destroyed by showers of bombs, others were dispersed
and demoralized, and there is no doubt that the allied squadrons,
unopposed for the time by German aviators, did much to retard the
advance of the enemy columns. The allied airmen literally swarmed in
the air, but in carefully organized formations, so that their attacks
would reap the largest possible gain.