Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-11-27
ed the blood.stained streets of the

ed the blood-stained streets of tn
! hamlet once more.
No more grim tragedy has beer
seen since the war was begun thar
that which existed among the ruins O.
Bourbon village last night. Its finish
found the shattered German forces
outside the village boundary but still
full of determination. Several times
through the night they reformed and
swept forward against the village bu
each time were hurled back witt
heavy losses.
The village Fontaine Notre Dame, be
tween Bourbon wood and Cambria was
still in German hands today. This
shattered hamlet, however, was giving
the British no cause for worry and at
the latest reports they were ignoring
it and continuing to push ahead on
the northwest side.
The work of British airplanes dur:
ing the present offensive forms a
graphic chapter in itself. Despite the
vile weather which compelled them
to operate, within a few feet Of the
ground, they kept steadily at their
task and rendered invaluable assist
ance both in reconnaissance and Of
fensive operations.
INNOVATION IN WARFARE.
There have been almost continual
battles between German infantry and
British airmen flying as low as thirty
feet above the ground. Never before
has this kind of warfare been carried
out on such a large scale. Pilots have
attacked infantry and gun crews in
discriminatory wherever they encoun-
tered them and have inflicted heavy
casualties on the enemy with bombs
and machine guns.
The nature of the fighting can be
seen from the experience of British
pilot whose machine was literally
shot to pieces by rifle and machine
gun fire and who finally crashed
down behind his own lines with ten
bullet holes through his clothing, al
though himself unhurt. Another young
airnan presented himself at head
quarters yesterday after having laen
shot down for the third time within
two days. He was delighted over his
experience and Immediately applied
for another machine so that he might
go out again.
BOMBS .DEMoRALlZE HUNS.
One aviator attacked column Of
German infantry marching in close
formation and hurled two high power
bombs directly among them. The
troops scattered and as the airmen
whirled away he saw two heaps of
dead about huge craters which the
bombs had torn in the road. There
were immune rable cases Of airmen
bombing airdromes,
troop transports and gun crews. A
large number of artillery crews have
been wiped out either by machine gun
fire at close range or by bombs.
Naturally many of the airmen had
miraculous escapes from death One
story is that of an aviator whose ma
chine was torn to pieces while he, was
fighting German infantry with his
machine gun. He was caught in the
shell fire and all the wings Of his ma
chine were shot away.
FIGHTS WITH FOES GUN.
Fortunately he was flying only
twenty to thirty feet above the ground
and close to his own lines. He fell un-
hurt in No Mans Land and immedi-
ately came under rifle and machine
gun fire but he found a German rifle
with some ammunition and engaged
The enemy single handed. AS he fired
he worked his way back until he
reached one of his own patrols.
There is not much humor in fight
ng in this nature but one incident oc
cured which is making the whole
British air service laugh today. One
If the youngest British airmen was
lying at low altitude when four
enemy machine guns opened on him.
he swooped down and shot three of
lis opponents as he swept by. The
ourth machine gun kept firing and
he aviator in spirit of boyish mis-.
thief leaned over the side Of his car
md wriggled his fingers in joyous
lerision at the German. Just as he
vas in the midst of this interesting !
performance his opponent put bullet
;quarely through the palm of the air |
mans open hand
JEERS, NOT HERDS SALUTE.
The aviator presented himself at a !
lressing station and when queried, adj
nitted the truth with crestfallen face. |
lis consolation for his wound was a !
oar of laughter and advice to be !
more noIite to a boche in the future