The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-09-24
How British Air
Men Bombed
Bruges at Night
(By Associated Press.)

British airr1en in night bombing OF
Bruges, most important German
base in Belgium, are gra
phically described by Captain Paul
Bewsher, D. s. c., of the British
Royal Air Force. Bruges has been
subjected to air attacks so often that
it is now considered one Of the best
defended cities on the Western front.
1.-THE pilot and observer of British
light bombing machine proceeding to
Bruges have usually no difficulty in
finding their way, as haze Of light
from the searchlights can be seen
twenty or thirty miles off, the Cap
tain writes. AS they draw nearer
they see maze Of fifteen or sixteen
searchlights moving restlessly over
the town, looking for some machines
whose engine has been heard. Sud-
denly, they see the red flash Of a
bursting bomb and then another and
another. At once chains Of brilliant
emerald-colored balls Of fire pour up
wards in ceaseless lines, filling the
sky with green bubbles Of light. The
machine is not picked up however,
and gradually, the lights and she'll
fire die away.
Nov they are drawing nearer and
the observer crawls through little
door into the nose of the machine, ex-
amines his bomb-handle, and adjusts
the bomb-dropping sight. AS he
kneels, a heavily muffled figure, in
his little wooden cock pit, ten thou
sand feet over nothing, he is so alb
sorbed in watching the ground that
his surroundings seem to him perfect
ly normal; he is entirely at his ease,
Below, he sees the black line Of
the Canal which he is using as a
guide. He turns the pilot to the left
with a wave Of his hand, and then
again to the right, and stops him with
an uplifted arm.
AHEAD he can see the dark mass
of the town. and to the left the long
basins of the docks. Far to the left
lies the dark line Of the Belgian coast
and over Ostends and Zeebrugge move
the sentinel searchlights. Bruges
lies dark and dim, snatching brief
rest from its tumultuous night.
"The observer waves his hand. and
the roar of the engines dies away in
| to silence, as the machine dives to-
ward its target. He unstraps his
bomb handle and leans far over the
| front, looking down to the shining
water of the dock, observed in fol-
lowing the course Of the little meta
bar of the sight. 1t touches the docks
and crosses them. With quick ges
ture, he guides the pilot to the left
and the bar sweeps round and crosse;
the section Of the quay he wishes t.
attack.
"He checks the pilot, and holds hi
bomb-lever In readiness. Hundreds
of Germans stand waiting at thei:
guns, machine guns, searchlights, am
green ball machines, but he thinks o
nothing save the passage OF the met
al bar across the black mass be
tween the two shining strips of water
Suddenly his sight registers tn
range. He pushes the lever forwar'
slowly, pulls 1t back again, and agail
pushes it forward, and again AM
again. From behind there comes tn
click and clatter of fourteen droppin
bombs.
HE shouts to the pilot to turn. an
one huge wing climbs towards tn
stars as the machine sweeps roun
and away from the welter of she'll
and searchlights that the explosion Q
the bombs will bring.
Gazing downward, the observe
sees at the endge of the quay a re
| squirt OF fame which slowly die
away. Two others follow, in the wa
ter where lie destroyers and subma
rines, and then more and more burs
on the sheds in the middle. A whit
9 sheet of flame bursts from one she.
and fading slowly leaves red glar,
An ammunition store has been blow
l. up. The other bombs burst acros
l. the wharves and crowded basin
leaving huge clouds of white smok
where they have wrought destruction
, simultaneously with the burstin
Q of the first bomb, hundreds of gree
n balls come streaming in swayin
# curves from the ground, and pour VI
IS wards past the wings on both sides
y Like handful of ribbons the searcl
lights have been thrown up, and f
g the sky with wands of light whiC
II have a strange pattern all around Il
n machine. Gun-fire flashes round Il
ID town, and close to the machine no
Of bursts the clamorous barrage.
10 ar 10 an awe-;nsn;r;ng din h