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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0617.PDF
JULY 20, 1914. Paris, July itth. Evening. " On the morning of the 16th two enemy aeroplanes were brought down in the Somme region, one of them by Second Lieutenant Guynemer. This is the tenth aeroplane that this officer has brought down. " During to-day Sergeant Rochefort brought down his fifth enemy aeroplane." Russian. Petrograd, July wtk. Afternoon. " Enemy airmen attacked the station at Zamirie, on the Minsk - Baranovitchi railway line, and dropped sixty six bombs." Petrograd, July llth. Evening. " The combats in the region of the Stokhod continue. Enemy aeroplanes are flying in great numbers above the rear of our armies, dropping bombs and opening fire with their machine-guns." Petrograd, July iztk. Afternoon. " German aviators have dropped bombs on the station of Zamirie and the town of Niesvij, where several houses were set on fire." Petrograd, July \J,th. " There was an artillery duel. Some enemy aeroplane squad rons flew behind our lines, dropping bombs and firing with machine guns." Petrograd, July lit A. " A Zeppelin flying over Riga dropped 13 bombs on different quarters of the town." Italian. Rome, July nth. " A semi-official statement says: This morning at daybreak some of our units effectively bombarded the enemy seaplane base at Parenzo (south of Trieste), in spite of the intense fire of the new defence batteries." Pome, July 12th. " Hostile aircraft dropped bombs on Latisana causing a fire, which was promptly extinguished. " Our air squadrons on Monday bombarded Tione, in the Giudicaria, and on Tuesday the enemy's camps at Monte Rover, north-east of Lavarone. Our machines returned saiely." Rome, July 14/A. " Last night hostile aircraft dropped bombs on Padua. The damage was slight, but two persons were killed and a few wounded." Rome, July ljth. " On the 15th our aircraft bombarded the camps in the Folgaria area. " Throughout yesterday the enemy displayed much aerial activity, bombarding several points in the Camonica and Adige valleys, but no casualties or damage ensued. Our batteries drove off some hostile aircraft which were making for Bergamo, Brescia and Padua. Last night five hydroplanes dropped bombs on Treviso, killing one person and wounding a few. One of the machines was brought down by our fire ; the two occupants were killed." From Other The Paris correspondent of the Times, writing on July 7th, says:— "Nesle, Voyennes and Ham are other important railway centres to the south of Peronne, and upon these points the French aero planes have been actively engaged destroying railway buildings." A telegram received in Paris from Salonica on July nth says General Sarrail made an inspection in an aeroplane of the enemy's dispositions lasting three hours. In a long despatch, dated '' With the French Army on the Somme, July 13th," Mr. II. Warner Allen, the British press repre sentative with the French Forces, says :— "A fleet of aeroplanes, flying low, went forward with the French infantry. As a rule, the infantryman on the ground balow watches the duel of airmen far away. In the Somme offensive, for the first time, aviators and infantry went into the battle close together, and each infantryman felt that he was in immediate communication with the aeroplane above his head. Many a soldier, as he paused for a breathing space, waved his hand approvingly to the aviator, who was watching him from above. The aeroplanes were only five or six hundred feet up, and it was their duty to warn the French batteries behind as to the progress made, so that the men should not suffer from the fire of their own guns. The progress of each unit was announced to the aviator above by signals. The kite balloons, watching the battle from the rear, were often at a loss as to the position of the advancing lines, but the airmen never made a mistake. To the inexpressible joy of the infantry, the French shells fell exactly where they were needed, just ahead of theiv lines, and moved steadily forward with their progress. And, though the j/ycfitj German. Berlin, July nth. " Vigorous aerial activity resulted in numerous air fights, in which the enemy lost two machines on the Somme and two others west of Vouzieres. " Near Courcelette, on the road from Bapaume to Albert, a British biplane was shot down by our anti-aircraft guns. " Our air squadrons abundantly bombed troop transports near Horodzieja, on the line Baranovitchi-Minsk, and repeated their attack on the Russian dug-outs east of the Stodhod." Berlin, July 12th. " A British biplane was compelled to land in our lines near Athies. An enemy aeroplane fell down near Soyecourl, and another was brought down by our anti-aircraft guns near Chattancourt. Near Dombasle a captive balloon was shot down by our airmen. " Our air squadrons made attacks east of the Stokhod. An enemy captive balloon was shot down." Berlin, fuly \yh. "North of Soissons a French biplane was forced to descend within our lines." Berlin, July 14/A. " Our air squadrons successfully repeated their attacks east of the Stokhod." Berlin, July 15M. "Numerous bombs were dropped on railway stations where there was heavy traffic on the line Smorgon-Molodetchna. Trains conveying troops at the railway station of Kiverzy north-east of Lutsk were attacked by our air squadron, with good results." Berlin, July 16M. " West of Loos an enemy aeroplane was shot down by our infantry fire. It fell down within our entanglements, and a biplane, damaged by our anti-aircraft gunfire, fell into our hands near Nesle." Berlin, July lytA. " On July 15th two further French aeroplanes were put out of action besides those announced yesterday, one in an air battle behind the enemy line south of the Somme, the other by being shot down from the ground near Preslincourt (Oise), on our front. Austrian. Vienna, July 12th. "Near Obertyn, in East Galicia, an Austro-Hungarian airman shot down a Russian Farman biplane. " Our seaplanes bombed the military works and railway station at Latisana (north-east of Venice), causing several big fires." Bulgarian. Sofia, July 13th. "The enemy persists in his attempts to destroy the fruits of the labour of the peaceful population in the lower valley of the Mesta by daily dropping incendiary bombs with the object of burning the . crops already cut. Oying to our effective measures he obtains no result from this means. The reconnoitring activity of our airmen increases daily, furnishing examples of praiseworthy activity." Turkish. Constantinople, July 15M. " An enemy biplane, pursued by one of our airmen, was forced to land in the island of Tenedos." Sources. aeroplanes received plenty of bullets and shrapnel in their planes, not a single one was brought down. " . . . . With heavy artillery the problem of giving eyes to the gunners, who are miles and miles in the rear, becomes increasingly difficult. The Germans first sought the solution in the kite balloon, or sausage, which was a valuable supplement to the aeroplane. At first they had practically a monopoly of the kite balloons, but now the tables are turned. The Allied aeroplanes were able to work havoc among the kite balloons, and on the Somme front yesterday one could see 20 Ftench kite balloons and not one single German. Despite all efforts the enemy has been able to demolish only one French balloon, and that by an unsportsmanlike device which smacks of sailing under false colours. A German aeroplane, disguised as a French machine, with tricolour discs painted under its wings, succeeded in slipping through the French air patrols and destroyiug a captive balloon with explosive bullets. " The French have in this district complete mastery of the air, and, consequently, the German guns are blinded. If the enemy dares to run up a kite balloon, it takes all its force of aeroplanes to protect it. One of the great difficulties in the battle of Champagne was that of informing the artillery of the progress made by the infantry. This problem has been most satisfactorily solved by the ' infantry aeroplanes.' .... " The Germans had evidently realised that their defences on the Somme might prove unequal to resisting the pressure of the French. On June 25th, at the very beginning of the artillery preparation, which only reached its height on the last three days of the month, they evacuated all the civilians in th; threatened district. Appai - ently very short notice was given, but the peasants should not have 5
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