Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1916-11-24

soldier and not u pirate / must only
aim to destroying the military power
. of the enemy.
1t seems that somehow our pas
sage was expected | can see some
aeroplanes leaving the ground. You
are just II bit too late, nv dear col
leagues.
Now. / point straight toward Dus-
seidolft, but all this district disap-
pears under cloud of smoke. What
! an extraordinary experimentation OF
works! Here are Solingen, Elber-
field, Barmen. the black country. crisis
crossed by innumerable railway lines
and with hundreds of high chimney
! like guns pointing to the sky Down
| there tremendous amount of arms
OF all sorts, guns munitions, etc, all
10 be directed against us, are PRO
duced with tremendous activity.
Essen AT Last.
| am getting nearer the end of my
Journey. My heart beats quicker, and
pray fervently that my engine may
bear me without failing, at Least till
have done my work. But through
my helmet | can hear its regular
working in the tempest of it's explo-
sions.
Over there on the left can just SIC
Dul.burg. and this river. which comes
and flows into the Rhine-it is the
Rushr.
Underneath the smoke which comes
out of the forest of high chimncys
is dcnser and dcn3cr. Essen ut last.
am over what has been consider
Vi is the heart of German over the
Town which stands us the symbol of
hruta! force.
Where now are the Krupp works?
There at the vets of the town. How
large they arc The shops and the
buildings, between which trains are
running, seem innumcrablc. At
tempts to disguise it are, indeed. fool
ish. 1t is the most perfect target
one can imagine.
Now, suppose l am going to be
"strafed." | look here and there for
bursting shells. Nothing; they aim
too low. However, some very vio-
lent waves of air, the cause of which
l do not understand, disturb for n
moment my bombing proportions.
Two o'clock-the center OF the works
passes. | drop my torpedocs in rapid
succession. My friend, who is over
me and little on the left, drops his
also.
| guess more than l can exactly
see, as am so very high, that un-
derneath in the works the people suf-
fer from sort Of madness. There
are rushes of people, soon hidden by
the coluds of smoke, which rise from
many points.
Nearly at the center there seems
hat there is formidable explosion,
followed by intense fire. What ioy
% have attained ones aim?
kruOD'S has bopn bOmhnd in full
daylight in spite of its nnti-aircraft
Guns and it's planes.
suppose that now the Boches
must be mad with fury and will try
% chase us. Never mind; my mis-
,ion has been fulfilled. will fight
he enemy planes if they come.
| should like to signal something
TO my friend, Captain Bcauchamps. i
try 10 get near him, but he seems to
to go quicker than ! do. All of
sudden while | have been looking
backward, he disappears, and | can
see nothing in front of me but
mountain of clouds.
! 20 down, then up again. Nothing
it is impossible to find him. do
hope fervently that he has not had n
breakdown or has not been wounded.
Here l am again over Dusseldorf,
but not going SO fast as incoming
The wind which has veered, hampers
my quick veriication of my oil and
petrol tanks. All is well. | can keep
up for another six hours.
The clouds get denser and denser.
There is at some moments a thick
mist, which wells completely the
ground. My only guide is now the
compass-south-southwest A little
later the sun. which is barely in front
half blinds me. The journey is get
ting extremely firing. | try to shade
my eyes with my hand, but the cold
paralyzes m" fingers as soon as they
are outside the zone of protection of
my wind shield.
Fights Three Airmen.
! have been up for over four hours.
Where am now? What is my
speed? II is impossible to know any
thing, The time seems long-long.
AS Pm browsing, there is some eX-
plosion, thunder louder than the
noise of my engine. | turn right
round SO that the Boche gunner los
csc the range, but as l turn | see
l,5O0 feet or 1000 feet under me, 8
Boche planes which are giving chase.
Their machines are as fast as mine,
put as soon as they try to go up they
lose ground
! slacken for few seconds, and,
going straight toward the most for
ward of them, / serve him at about
$50 yards with three bursts of nv
machine gun. Unnerved, he prefers
not to engage in fight, and flies to-
ward the left.
But the others are attacking me
from the back: 1t is time to go.
Have l wounded my opponent? II
don't think so, as he seems to be fly
ing straight again, but very much
lower Soon the others are only black
spots.
The chase has lasted over thirty
minutes, and l have got real stiff
neck, so often did turn around. Now
have been up six hours. Time draes
dreadfully. My eyes hurt, and | suf-
fer from the cold. Evidently / am
over Belgium now, but where? Il
must know, l come down. The engine
is stopped. How sweet Is that ST.
lence after six hours of tempest!
Four thousand feet! 1t is not
enough. The country is very brok-
en-, all hills and woods cannot