Gilpin observer., 1915-02-04
German Journalist Describes
Thrilling Fight in France.
kaiser's Airships Defeat French Air
Fleet in Spirited Engagement
victors Then Throw Bombs
Causing Great Damage.

Berlin.-A German journalist serv-
Ing in the kaiser's aviation corps on
the battlefields of France, sends a
vivid description of spirited battle
in the air in which he participated. He
was decorated with the Iron Cross for
the bravery he displayed in this spec
tacular conflict.
"The weather was miserable during
the last week." he writes. I'VE had
rain, snow and fog. The air was very
unfavorable for aviation. Gusts OF
wind made it difficult to navigate and
gave one feeling similar to seasick-
ness.
However, we kept up our practice
and tried to do as much damage as
possible to the enemy. Our opponents
were very daring and must give them
credit for the bravery shown in their
flights above our ranks. They were
not afraid of our batteries and man
aged to escape the hail of shots di-
rected at them.
so we decided we would have to
fight them in the air. We organized
system of espionage and one day we
received word that five machines of
the enemy had arisen in the neighbor
hood of A. and were coming our way.
At moments notice We got our ma
chimes In positions. the motors were
whirring and in intervals of one-half
minute each we rose in the air.
Immediately we took our course in
the direction of A. and tried to reach
greater height than the French. de-
termined to send them to the ground.
We were armed to the teeth. so to
say. We not only carried bombs. but
also machine guns.
I'm the neighborhood of A. we saw
the French machines cruising. Ma
chimes Of the single and double decker
type were flying around in open for
nation taking observations OF our po-
sitions. AS we were flying in close
formation 1t seems they did not recog-
nize how many we were. So they went
for our first "taube" in body.
But this little 'dovey' ducked and
rising again sent a shot at one of the
French double deckers which seemed
to put its propeller out of commission.
At least. we saw the ship gliding
gracefully down to the earth
In the meantime we had made
ready for business and now began a
fight of one machine against the other.
The French tried their best to get
above us in order to drop bombs upon
us, But we frustrated their game by
following them up higher and higher.
II saw my colleague Lieutenant NJ.
nd tn 1nft E,.l- IL,
adversary. He must have received
serious injury. for he went down like
an arrow The second one was also
put out OF business very soon.
Then came my own and my com.
panion's turn. A powerful double
decker was firing furiously ut us. A
great number of bullets cut holes in
our canvas wings, when my companion
sienaled to me with his arms to make
II sharp turn to the left
Our apparatus came to an almost
perpendicular position sideways and
then our machine gun began its dead
ly work. Within two seconds the en-
emy's machine began to shake and
shiver, then Il rose like horse on
his hind legs and finally II turned a
somersault. going down very fast, head
first. When we looked around again
the rest of the enemy, two machines.
were in full flight.
In the meantime we had been dis
covered from below. They opened fire
upon us and we had to rise higher In
order to get out of their range. Stn
we were determined to reply to their
greetings We circled above A. and
dropped number of bombs which did
good work, xs we could observe with
the aid OF our field glasses First the
gas works we're hit and blew up. Then