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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0618.PDF
1/llQHTl been unprepared, since thousands of proclamations had been dropped by French aeroplanes among the villages announcing that the Allies armies were coming. " After the first day's attack the enemy discovered that his worst fears as to the French offensive had been fulfilled, and that there was no chance of serious resistance on his first and second positions. He immediately withdrew, so far as was possible, all his advanced batteries not absolutely indispensable for the continuation of the struggle, to save them from the hands of the advancing French. . . . They have had to continue the struggle in the open, and take their chance of being discovered by a French aviator and being destroyed by the French batteries." In the coarse of an interesting description in the Vossische Zeitung of the Allies' tactics in their present offensive, Lieutenant Alfred Dambiuch, who was wounded in the recent fighting on toe Somme, writes:— " The plan of destruction of the German front (he says) neces sitated gaining ascendancy in the air. Large numbers of British and French airmen were massed in the fighting sector. Every day swarms of them directed the range-finding of the artillery. When the incessant fire began, not a second passed but dozens of enemy aeroplanes flew over our trenches. Great squadrons were sent beyond the German lines to reconnoitre the approach and quartering of our troops, and from time to time drop bombs." . . _ . " Generally infantry fighting is preceded by the silencing of the enemy's artillery. This principle was on this occasion transferred to the aerial weapon, which materially increased the effectiveness of the bombardment of our artillery, because artillery without ob servation from an elevation can accomplish nothing, owing to its tt ® BRITISH THE following third ritumi of incidents extracted from recent reports of the Royal Flying Corps in France has been received from the Air Board :— "June 17th.—Capt. A., while flying in the vicinity of Arras, observed six hostile machines in close formation flying west, and, following these, three more. As Capt. A. approached them from underneath the formation broke up, and simultaneously two other of our machines attacked from above, Capt. A. engaged the nearest machine, which immediately turned and dived, whilst a second machine attacked him from above. Disregarding this second machine he turned in pursuit of the first one, and after a considerable amount of manoeuvring he got behind its tail and fired into it at thirty yards range. The hostile machine continued to dive almost vertically with its engine still on, and was finally seen to plunge to earth in a field near Achiet le Grand. On his return journey Capt. A. attacked two other machines and forced both to descend, though in each case they appeared to land under control. "June 23rd.—Three eight-horse wagons were attacked by one of our machines from a height of 900 ft. and were stampeded. " June 25th —As twenty-three hostile kite balloons were reported to be up, it was decided to attack them by aeroplanes at four p.m. Fifteen balloons were attacked, of which six were destroyed. Three more were brought down in flames on June 26th. " June 27th.—Captain B. successfully carried out a special recon naissance to observe the effect of wire-cutting operations in front of Gommecourt Wood. In carrying out this duty he descended to 500 ft. to obtain the necessary information. "June 29th.—One of our machines was attacked by three hostile aeroplanes, which suddenly appeared out of a cloud. The pilot was wounded in the back and lost consciousness, but his observer, climbing out of his seat; roused him, and the pilot landed his machine safely in his own aerodrome. The observer made use of his wireless during the descent to summon a doctor. " Julyji.—Important and successful bombing raids against the enemy's lines of communication were carried out during the day. Several trains were hit and many serious fires occasioned. A bombing raid was launched against a hostile headquarters and a suspected ammunition dump, as a result of which a fire was occasioned at the headquarters which burned for several hours. One pilot failed to release his bombs at the first attempt, and although his engine was running badly and he was continuously being attacked by two hostile aeroplanes, the pilot made two more circles over his objective, released the bombs at the third attempt, and recrossed the lines at 2,500 ft. The attack was repeated later in the day ; one bomb fell on the railway, cutting it completely, whilst another destroyed a house. The railways were bombed In many places, several stations are known to have been hit, and in one case a train was hit in the middle and set on fire ; this is con firmed by another pilot, who, seeing a train on fire, descended to a low altitude and dropped two more bombs on the rear of the burn ing train. " In the early morning hostile attempts at offensive action were attempted by the enemy on our side of the lines, but subsequently JULY 20, 1916. indirect fire. The enemy has tested new methods by which airmen can set fire to balloons by pistol shot. This plan is now also adopted by us with very good results." Mr. W. Beach Thomas, writing to the Daily Mail from "the Field," on July nth, says :— "One Can well understand, though the fact was regrettable, that there was some delay in pushing the attack home. How truly it was said by some of our tacticians at Aldershot as many as five years ago that the next war would be largely fought in woods and villages where there was cover from aerial observation. Among the horrors of the wood was the wreck of one of our aeroplanes." The Times correspondent with the Russian Centre Army, in a despatch dated July 1 ith, says:— " German airmen, as usual, are dropping shells on the wounded." Mr. Philip Gibbs, in a despatch from the British Headquarters in France, dated July 15th, says :— "With thirty-two prisoners they (Dragoon Guards) rode on slowly, still reconnoitring the open country on the skirt of Delville Wood, until they came again under machine-gun fire and drew back. As they did so an aeroplane came overhead, skimming very low, at no more than 300 ft. above ground. The cavalry turned in their saddles to stare at it for a moment or two, believing that it was a hostile machine. But no bullets came their way, and in another moment it stopped over the German infantry concealed in the wheat and fired at them with a machine-gun. Four times it circled and stooped, and fired, creating another panic among the enemy, and then flew off, leaving the cavalry full of admiration for this daring feat." 9 ® AIR WORK. this was confined entirely to their side of the lines. No fewer than thirty-five aerial combats took place, in which five hostile machines were brought down on the enemy side of the line, and at least five others were driven down, of which two were seen to be damaged. Another enemy machine was brought down by anti-aircraft fire. " In one of these combats Major C. single-handed attacked four of the hostile aeroplanes, and it is reported by the anti-aircraft gfuns that before doing this he completely broke up the German forma tion of ten aeroplanes and scattered it in all directions. The first machine he attacked was hit between the pilot and the observer and returned to its aerodrome ; the second was hit and managed to land in its own lines under control; whilst attacking the third Major C. was hit in the leg, but continued firing until within ten yards. At that range he saw the enemy observer was firing wildly and had evidently been hit. In spite of his wound Major C. proceeded to chase the fourth machine, but was forced to break off the fight owing to his ammunition running out. "July 2.—There were eleven combats in the air, in which four hostile machines were brought down. "July 3rd.—The activity of the enemy in the air increased to a very great degree, but it was confined to localities well behind his own lines. Our machines working near the lines were subjected to continuous anti-aircraft fire. There were thirty combats in the air. " One of our reconnoitring patrols was followed by two Fokkers and a biplane; our escorting machines, having accompanied the reconnaissance back- to our lines, turned to engage the enemy, who had by this time been joined by two more Fokkers. One Fokker was shot down and seen to fall to earth, whilst the biplane was forced to descend. Another of our aeroplanes encountered five hostile machines ; four were driven off with but little trouble, and though the fifth engaged in combat it was, however, last seen diving verti cally with its engine full on, and is believed to have been destroyed." The following incidents are extracted from recent reports relating to the Royal Naval Air Service. " Flanders.—June 3rd.—A German battery opened fire on a kite balloon just as it was about to ascend, the first shell bursting within fifteen yards of the basket containing the observers. The cable was immediately cut and the balloon dragged by the crew at the double for three-quarters of a mile, shells following them all the way. The kite balloon was not seriously damaged. " June 18th.—A seaplane was forced to descend, owing to the engine catching fire, into the middle of an enemy mine-field. A hostile aeroplane and two seaplanes attacked it with machine guns, but were driven off by our fire. Our seaplane was uninjured, and ultimately drifted on the tide towards Nieuport, where the crew were safely rescued. " Eastern Mediterranean.—May 2nd.—A hostile aeroplane appeared over Mudros, and was driven off by anti-aircraft guns. Within six minutes of its appearance over Mudros our machines from Imbros were in the air with the object of intercepting the enemy's retreat. A seaplane ' spotting * for a monitor resulted in three direct hits being obtained on a railway bridge at Aga Suluk.' 6l6
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