The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-01-15

against their machine gun fire is I,
get up close to the French aeroplan,
and then dodge and twist in shar,
dips and curves, spelling the aim o
their mounted machine gun, and
giving us an advantage with our re
polvers.
zone of the most Interesting en-
gagements was between a squadron
of four of our aeroplanes armed will
revolvers aginst a big and a little
Bauerscreck, (the German nick
name for the armored French aero
planes armed with machine guns)
The fight lasted for nearly an hour
at an altitude ranging from 5000
to 5000 feet, the big 'Bauerschreck
being finally forced to land, while
the little one flew off. One of our
aviators did fine piece of work re-
Gently, landing behind the French
lines, destroying the railway at that
point and flying off again. The
French are magnificent flyers, and SO
are the English. but we Germans
have the training. Especially in
trained observers we have big ad-
vantage.
IL saw one of the German flyer
heroes i'm base hospital. To the
nurses chart over his cot were pin
ned the Iron Cross of the second
and first class and a bunch of flow
ers, and the surgeon general coaxed
him to give the details of the win
ming of his decorations.
Sergeant Luchs and his observer
were returning from an aerial re-
connoissance when they were over
taken and attacked by fast French
aeroplane. The effectiveness of the
French machine gun fire was later
shown by seventy holes in the wings
of the German aeroplane. For forty
five minutes the battle in the air
lasted 5000 feet up revolver
against machine gun, ending only
when Luchs was shot through the
lungs and liver. He was able to
guide his machine safely to the
ground within the German lines be-
fore he lost consciousness. But one
of his revolver bullets had gone
home, probably puncturing the gaso-
line tank, for the French aeroplane
was also seen making a forced land
ing.
Gen. Won Heeringen, commander
in chief of the Ninth Army, told me
a similar story about two officers
who fought with revolver aginst ma
chine gun until their motor and tank
were shot to pieces, forcing them to
glide to earth. The general said
he had learned about their bravery
only by accident as they had reported
only the results of their reconnois-
sance.
That the German aviators are at |
a disadvantage in fighting against |
the Allies aeroplanes, armed with |
machine guns, was freely admitted by |
Gen. Won Heeringen. who said sig
nifcantly that that would be attend
ed to in the near future.
'French aeroplanes have paid me |
a number of visits" the commanding I
general said with laugh. "Our
aviation camp seems to be an at |
traction for them. We have shot
down six of them in the last few
weeks. Our gunners are really only
just beginning to get the hang Of II |
with practice. The trouble in peace
time was always to find some sort
of target to train our gunners in
the use of the new motor gun. We |
couldn't very we'll ask one of our
own aviators to go up and let him
self be shot at. But now the French
are affording us just the moving tar
get We have been looking for, and
our shooting is improving splen-
didly."
Gen. Won Faenisch, Won Herring
ems brilliant chief of staff. who as
former inspector general of the avia-
ton arm had more to do than any
other one individual with bringing
German military aviation to its pres
ent high pitch of efficiency. supple
mented his chiefs remarks by say
ing:
1--WE recently brought down a
French aeroplane from an altitude
of $500 feet. Our new gun can
shoot four miles high"
AvitaOr's Message to Dunkirk.
A German airman few over Dun
kirk in the Christmas week. but
dropped no bombs. only peaceful
Christmas greetings.
His somewhat hazardous trip
from the German lines was under
taken at the request Of a Prussian
Colonel who wanted to know where