[Ill.u.s.tration: ONE OF HIS LAST VICTIMS]
[Ill.u.s.tration: STARTING ON HIS LAST RIDE OCTOBER 28, 1916--5 P.M.]
TO THE FORTIETH VICTORY (Fleet Battles)
LETTER OF SEPTEMBER 4, 1916
DEAR PARENTS:
To your surprise, you no doubt have read of my twentieth victory. You probably did not expect I would be doing much flying while arranging my new division.
A few days ago two new Fokkers arrived for me, and yesterday I made my first flight. At the front, the enemy was very active. They have grown quite rash. While I was enjoying a peaceful sail behind our lines, one came to attack me. I paid no attention to him (he was higher than I).
A little later I saw bombs bursting near P. Here I found a B.-E.
biplane, and with him three Vickers" one-man machines, evidently a scout with its protectors. I attacked the B.-E., but in the midst of my work the other three disturbed me so I had to run. One of them thought he could get me in spite of this, and followed me. A little apart from the rest, I offered battle, and soon I had him. I did not let him go; he had no more ammunition left. In descending, he swayed heavily from side to side. As he said later, this was involuntary; I had crippled his machine. He came down northeast of Th. The aviator jumped out of his burning machine and beat about with hands and feet, for he was also afire. I went home to get fresh supplies of cartridges and start anew, for more Englishmen were coming. But I had no success. Yesterday I got the Englishman, whom I had captured, from the prisoners" camp and took him to the Casino for coffee. I showed him our aviation field and learned a lot of interesting things from him. My field is slowly nearing completion and I am exceedingly busy.
SEPTEMBER 17, 1916
In the meantime, I have made my total twenty-five.
Number 21 I tackled single-handed. The fight with this Vickers biplane did not take very long. I attacked him at an angle from behind (the best; to get him from directly behind is not so good, since the motor acts as a protection). In vain he tried to get out of this poor position; I did not give him the chance. I came so close to him that my machine was s.m.u.tted by the ensuing explosion of his "plane. He fell, twisting like a boomerang. The observer fell out of the machine before it struck.
Number 22 was quite bold; with his companions, he was sailing over our front, attacking our machines. This was too bad for him as well as one of his friends, who was shot down by two Rumplers. Number 22 fell in exactly the same way as 21 fell the day before, only he landed within his own lines.
Number 23 was a hard one. I had headed off the squadron he was with and picked the second one. He started to get away. The third attacked Lieutenant R., and was soon engaged by Lieutenants B. and R., but, nevertheless, escaped within his own lines. My opponent pretended to fall after the first shots. I knew this trick, and followed him closely. He really was trying to escape to his own lines. He did not succeed. At M. he fell. His wings broke off and the machine broke into pieces. As he lies so far behind our front I did not get a chance to inspect the wreck. Once, however, I flew over it at a very low alt.i.tude.
After a short while I saw several Englishmen circling over P. When I got nearer, they wanted to attack me. As I was lower, I paid no attention to them, but turned away. As they saw I would not fight, one of them attacked another German machine. I could not allow this to go on. I attacked him and he soon had to suffer for it. I shot up his gasoline and oil tanks and wounded him in the right thigh. He landed and was captured. That was Number 24.
Number 25 had to wait till the next day. A fleet of seven Englishmen pa.s.sed over our field. Behind them I rose and cut off their retreat.
At P. I got near them. I was the lower and, therefore, almost defenseless. This they took advantage of, and attacked me. Nerve! But I soon turned the tables and got my sights on one of them. I got nice and close to him, and let him have about 500 shots at forty meters.
Then he had enough. Lieutenant von R. fired a few more shots at him, but he was finished without them. At H. he fell in a forest and was completely wrecked.
Things are very lively here. The Englishmen always appear in swarms. I regret I did not have enough machines for all my men. Yesterday the first consignment arrived. The other half will come very soon. They shot down two Englishmen yesterday, and there won"t be many Englishmen left in a little while.
Yesterday, my officer for special service arrived; he will relieve me of a lot of work. Nevertheless, my time is well occupied, even when not flying. There is a lot to do if one has to make a division out of practically nothing. But it pleases me to see things gradually work out as I plan them.
_LATER_
In the meantime, things have changed considerably. Two of my men and I got into an English squadron and had a thorough housecleaning. Each of us brought down an Englishman. We are getting along fine; since last night five Englishmen. I shot down the leader, which I recognized by little flags on one of the planes. He landed at E. and set his machine afire. His observer was slightly wounded. When I arrived in an auto they had both been taken away. He had landed because I had shot his engine to pieces.
LETTER OF OCTOBER 8, 1916
Yesterday you read of Number 30, but even that is a back number.
Number 31 has followed its predecessors.
On September 17th came Number 27. With some of my men I attacked a squadron of F.-E. biplanes on the way back from C. Of these, we shot down six out of eight. Only two escaped. I picked out the leader, and shot up his engine so he had to land. It landed right near one of our kite-balloons. They were hardly down when the whole airplane was ablaze. It seems they have some means of destroying their machine as soon as it lands. On September 19th six of us got into an English squadron. Below us were the machines with lattice-work tails, and above were some Morans, as protection. One of these I picked out, and sailed after him. For a moment he escaped me, but west of B. I caught up with him. One machine gun jammed, but the other I used with telling effect. At short range, I fired at him till he fell in a big blaze.
During all this, he handled himself very clumsily. This was Number 28.
On September 27th I met seven English machines, near B. I had started on a patrol flight with four of my men, and we saw a squadron I first thought was German. When we met southwest of B., I saw they were enemy "planes. We were lower and I changed my course. The Englishmen pa.s.sed us, flew over to us, flew around our kite-balloon and then set out for their own front. However, in the meantime, we had reached their height and cut off their retreat. I gave the signal to attack, and a general battle started. I attacked one; got too close; ducked under him and, turning, saw an Englishman fall like a plummet.
As there were enough others left I picked out a new one. He tried to escape, but I followed him. I fired round after round into him. His stamina surprised me. I felt he should have fallen long ago, but he kept going in the same circle. Finally, it got too much for me. I knew he was dead long ago, and by some freak, or due to elastic controls, he did not change his course. I flew quite close to him and saw the pilot lying dead, half out of his seat. To know later which was the "plane I had shot down (for eventually he must fall), I noted the number--7495. Then I left him and attacked the next one. He escaped, but I left my mark on him. As I pa.s.sed close under him I saw a great hole I had made in his fuselage. He will probably not forget this day.
I had to work like a Trojan.
Number 30 was very simple, I surprised a scout above our front--we call these scouts "Haschen" (rabbits)--fired at him; he tilted, and disappeared.
The fall of Number 31 was a wonderful sight. We, five men and myself, were amusing ourselves attacking every French or English machine we saw, and firing our guns to test them. This did not please our opponents at all. Suddenly, far below me, I saw one fellow circling about, and I went after him. At close range I fired at him, aiming steadily. He made things easy for me, flying a straight course. I stayed twenty or thirty meters behind him and pounded him till he exploded with a great yellow flare. We cannot call this a fight, because I surprised my opponent.
Everything goes well with me; healthy, good food, good quarters, good companions, and plenty to do.
OCTOBER 19, 1916
My flying has been quite successful in the last few days.
On October 13th some of my men and I got into a fleet of Vickers machines of about equal number. They did not care to fight, and tried to get away. We went after them. I attacked one, saw that Lieutenant K. was already after him, picked another, attacked him above P. and fired two volleys at him. I descended about 400 meters doing this and had to let him go, because two others were after me, which I did not appreciate. He had to land at his artillery positions, however.
On the 15th of October, there was a lot to do. Lately, the English attack at two or three o"clock in the afternoon, because they have the notion that we are asleep. Just at this hour we went out. Between T.
and S. we had a housecleaning; that is, we attacked and chased every Englishman we could find. I regret that during this only one fell (M.
shot down his fourth). Shortly after that I saw a scout amusing himself above the lines. I attacked and finished him first thing; I guess I must have killed the pilot instantly. The machine crashed to earth so violently that it raised a huge cloud of dust. That was Number 33.
On October 10th, in the afternoon, I got into a fleet of six Vickers"
machines. I had a fine time. The English leader came just right for me, and I settled it after the first attack. With the pilot dead, it fell, and I watched till it struck, and then picked out another. My men were having a merry time with the other Englishmen. One Englishman favored me by coming quite close to me, and I followed him close to the ground. Still, by skillful flying, he escaped.
The day was a good one for my command. Lieutenant R. brought down his fifth, and Lieutenant S. got one, so that in all we got five that day.
On the 16th I got Number 35. After some fruitless flying I saw six Vickers over our lines. These I followed, with Lieutenant B. From command--there were also three machines present. Lieutenant Leffers attacked one and forced him to earth (his eighth). The others were all grouped together in a bunch. I picked out the lowest and forced him to earth. The Englishmen did not try to help him, but let me have him, unmolested. After the second volley he caught fire and fell.
It is peculiar that so many of my opponents catch fire. The others, in jest, say it is mental suggestion; they say all I need do is attack one of the enemy and he catches fire or, at least, loses a wing.
The last few days we had poor weather. Nothing to do.
_THE LAST REPORTS_
OCTOBER 20, 1916
At 10:30 in the morning, five of my men and I attacked a squadron of six F.-E. biplanes, coming from D. The machine I attacked fell in its own lines after first losing its observer.