Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-11-18

/ A thrill OF JOY passed through me
in my direction. The enemy machine.
I Judged, was travelling remarkably
near the ground. not more than 800
feet. and I was sailing along at fully
double that distance from the surface
| of the globe.
I Before proceeding with this tale Of
woe I want the reader thoroughly to
understand that in deciding to collide
with the Hun outfit my mental appa-
| ratus was obsessed with the conviction
| that I was doomed to die anyway. I
| was certain that I could not possibly
make safe landing owing to the dam
| aged condition Of my plane.
| And 1t was this belief that made me
| shut of my engine and ''nose-dive"
toward the representative OF the father
| land.
1t was a slim, attenuated chance, but
1t came of. for that was my wonderful
day. The nose of my aerop1ane crashed
into the back Of Fritzie's fier. and.
| marvel Of marvels, stuck fast.
Both Machines Were in Flames.
was dazed by the shock Of the i'm
pact. but had sufficient sense to realize
that both machines were In flames. and
| that they were dropping with the speed
of bowlder toward the ground.
Tho terrific velocity of the descent
seemed to force my heart right up
into my throat. And before my mental
| vision. in gorgeous letters Of fire. ap-
peared the words, This is the endI'
And then I caught sight Of a German.
and he formed gruesome picture. He
was lying dead about ten yards from
me. The blade Of the propeller Of his
| machine had penetrated his chest and
the flames had blackened and charred
his remains past all recognition.
knew that a somewhat similar fate
should have befallen me. but, as have
already said. it was my wonderful day
In some miraculous fashion I had
contrived to land under the alumni
mum axle of the enemy machine, which
had protected me from the flaming
petrol My back and hands. after
ward discovered, were badly scorched.
but that was all. Not bone of my
body had been broken by the fall. al
though had. been driven clean
through tho deck of my plane. Talk
about luck! a..
II was not long before became
lcognizant Of the fact that the machines
had descended in no mans land. and
my training taught me that II + des
| sired to be rescued alive must make
no movement while the light lasted.
machine gun would have put the I'm
ishing touches to a life In which am
rather interested.
! For twelve hours-that seemed ages
IL lay motionless, consumed by q
thirst that would have raised envy in
II
| fighter Darkness eventually, covered
the earth, and couple Of British r. A.
NJ. C. men crept out, seized hold OF me
by the ankles. and pulled me back into
a trench that was only forty yards dis
/ tant from the SPOT where had lain.
! I remained for several weeks in an
hospital at Rouen. and while there the
Imajo came to see me. He tried to be
livery Indignant about stealing the
scouting machine. and lectured mo on
the enormity and insanity of the Of
/ Tense.
you might have been sentenced to
death by court-martia1 and shot fol-
what you did" solemnly announced my
superior. And then he smllingly re-
marked. But you certainly are
ilucky young devil. 1t being my inten-
ton to recommend that You be re-
of the war"
In Thickest Of Fight.
In the fierce fighting Of the first few
lhours of the attack on our part OF the
front, the Lancashire men came in fol
1t hot. Their Job was to advance ovel
the biockhouses which had been bull
as part of the Hindenburg line. Look.
ing at the field Of battle from grea'
height we could see little more thar
ground, but as we came lower we saw
clearly that the specks and dots were
. men in khaki ever moving forward II
face Of a storm Of shell nre:
The leading battalion swung Into po
sition-wtth its left against the strong
est blockhouse. its instructions wer'
to hold the enemy at this point whil'
one Of the suppostins natta no lat at
. side. At this point it was necessar!
for the attacking troops to dash across
, about zoo yards of open ground unde
heavy fire.
: We could see the guns dropping
j. shells right In front Of the blockhouse
, and our own barrage. which was rag
ing around: added to the intensity Q
shifted to a point behind the block
I house the leading battalion concentrat
ed its rifle and machine.gun IRE on tn
neighboring trenches. where the enem,
battalion told on to asail the block
house dashed forward. They were me
with q whitening fire. against which
Ssn Rad TO faxs 70
: about half an hour a fierce interchang
: Of machine-gun and rife fire took place
Heroic Little Group.
? Tho Lancashire men advanced ono
more, and again they were met witt
, to within sixty yards Of the block
I house. There they sought shelter Ii
Z shell craters. and the enemy concen
: trated on this point their fercest fire
, Suddenly we saw a little group of mel
t issue from one of the shell craters. an,
t leap forward at the blockhouse. Som
. of them went down before the enemy
fire. Five fought their way into tn
blockhouse. and after few minutes o
suspense they appeared leading a batcl
of German prisoners. The garrison o
{ about fifty men had surrendered 4
J. those five Lancashire lads. two Of WHOM
were wounded.
Once in the blockhouse the work Of tn,
Fusiliers became much easier. The,
. turned the machine guns on the enem,
tsheltering in the neighboring trenches
and that facilitated the work Of the troop
? advancing against the trenches
, A general retirement of the German
began, and at the moment when tina
move was made we came into action
!. Our airInen suddenly massed in the slS,
astride the Hun line OF retreat, and show
ers Of bombs fell from the sky, causin,
violent explosions and blowing the enc
7 my's ranks to smithereens. The German
!, lost all semblance Of discipline from tina
3 moment. They broke ranks and degen
Grated into disorderly rabble trying {,
. get away from danger a. quickly a. the,
) could.