The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1915-02-11
Battle IN The A!R
German Journalist Describes
Thrilling Fight in France.
Kaisers Alrsh'ps Defeat French Air
Fleet ia Spirited Engagement
Victors Then Throw Bombs
Causing Great Damage.


Berlin.-A German journalist serv-
ing in the kaiser's aviation corps on
the battle1elds 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.
1.-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 q 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 d.
rected at them.
so we decided We would have to
fight them In the air. We organized q
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 CT one-half
minute each we rose in the air.
Immediately we took our course in
the direction of A. and tried to reach
a 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.
"1n the neighborhood Of a. we saw
the French machines cruising. Ma
chimes Of the single and double decker
| type were flying around ineopen for
nation taking observations of our po-
sitions. AS we were flying in close
formation it seems they did not recog-
nize how many we were. So they went
for our first "taube" in a body.
! "But this little 'dovey' ducked and
rising again sent a shot at one of the
French double deckers which seemed
to put it's 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 &
, fight OF one machine against the other
| The French tried their best to gel
! above us, in order to drop bombs upoI
US. But we frustrated their game by
following them up higher and higher
II saw my colleague Lieutenant NJ
about 600 yards to my left, finish hi:
adversary. He must have received
serious injury, for he went down lik,
: an arrow.ess The second one was ais,
put out of business very soon
Then came my own and my com
panion's turn. a powerful doubl
decker was firing furiously at US. 1
great number Of bullets cut holes Il
| our canvas wings, when my companion
signaled to me with his arms to MAX
a sharp turn to the left.
"Our apparatus came to an almos
perpendicular position sideways an
then our machine gun began it's deat
| ly work. Within two seconds the CT
emy's machine began to shake an
q shiver, then it rose like horse o
y his hind legs and finally it turned
j. somersault, going down very fast, hea
first. When we looked around agai
the rest of the enemy. two machines
were in full flight
n in the meantime We had been dl
covered from below. They opened fl
\. upon us and We had to rise higher j
order to gee out Of their range Sti
we were determined to reply to the
: greetings. We circled above A. On
t dropped number Ct bombs which dl
d good work, as We could observe wit
:, the aid of our field glasses First IL
gas works were hit and blew up. The
we attacked two railroad stations an
left them a mass Of debris. | a
l. sorry to say one Of our machines We
forced to land, but as whole our e
] petition was q huge success