One of the British flying corps, Lieut. Rainey, crossed the Channel
from France in a much damaged machine, thus completing in a fitting
manner a series of thrilling adventures which have befallen him
since he last left English soil.
Lieut. Rainey had been engaged for three weeks in reconnoitring at
the front, and so little leisure had he been able to snatch that, as
he told his friends here, in the whole of that time he could not
remove his clothes, or even get a wash.
He had two machines disabled by rifle and shell fire, while a third
caught fire in midair. On each of these occasions he very narrowly
escaped losing his life.
Once when he came down he was so exhausted that he lay with his head
on his aeroplane and fell fast asleep. On waking he was astonished
to find that the puttee, boot and sock of one leg had been removed
by some one who, as the lieutenant himself suggested, took the
opportunity of his slumber to get them as mementoes.
Lieut. Rainey brought home with him a German helmet belonging to a
man he shot, and he proudly asserted it was the first trophy of the
kind taken by a British airman.
"SOLDIERS BECOMING RARE."
An official communication issued by the French War Office said:
"The following are extracts from a letter found on a German
prisoner, dated Dusseldorf, Oct. 4:
"'With us officers and soldiers are becoming rare. We have no more
men than are adequate. Volunteers and men of the Landwehr are all we
have to-day. If you saw these soldiers you would turn your head.
"'Everybody is being taken. It is Germany's last hope. All the aged
men are becoming soldiers.
"'Have you bread? Many complain they have none.'"