The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-08-23
ONE WELL-4IMED BLOW
DESTROY MONTHS WORK
So When British Official Statements Say
That a Direct Hit" Was Made
1t Means More Than Ii
Seems to Mean.

Behind British Lines IN France, Ang
20. Correspondence Of the Associated
Press) The British aviation com
munique frequently contains brief line
to record that direct hits were obtained
upon an enemy dump a." some point
behind the German lines. This eolorless
announcement may seem to the reader
in America nothing more than the rec
ord Of dull piece OF routine, but the
deed itself is different from its record.
American airmen attached to the Brit.
ish squadron have long since found out
that the business Of bombing dumps
often Is exciting and spectacular work.
Moreover, the Importance Of its effect
upon enemy plans and operations can
hardly be exaggerated A well-afned
hit on a store of German ammunition
may destroy the work Of many months
in the munition factories, and cripple
numerous batteries for many leng days,
A British airman, Lieuteant W A.
Barnes, has given the Associated Press
the following account of a recent S.
minute raid on German dump as char
acteristic Of this form Of activity:
"On this particular night there was not
enough moonlight for long raid, so
the target given us was a German am
muaition dump. We welcomed the
change, far, naturally, the strain Of long
distance raids into Germany, night aft.
err night, becomes bit wearing. Dumps
are of course, situated as near as possi-
BILE to the firing line! and so mean short
raids
Dumps are by no means easy targets
to find at night, for they are seldom
situated near any definite landmarks,
and are usually well camouhaged. By
the study Of maps and photographs,
however, we had pretty well located The
position Of this one, and started out on
The raid with high hopes Of success.
we flew almost due east from the
aeredrome AT the end of the fifty min.
utes. we could Just make out the outline
Of sheds. This was good, but we let
out d parachute flare TO Light mp the
ground, and make sure we were over the
target. This promptly dispelled all
doubts, for the Hun searchlights opened
ND at once, and hail of machine gun
bullets leaped up from the ground Anti
AtFEEdIE gums hhd h0NA A5AAt5 A1A NVtAAP
time, but the shells were bursting well
above as, and giving no trouble.
"The parachute fare proved real
friend, because both searchhghts and
machine guns concentrated upon II, Civ
ing us Just sufficient time to dive swift
". release our bombs, switch on the en-
CINE, and start climbing.
when we turned TO observe results,
we witnessed the finest frewoyk display
| ever saw. Ammunition was cracking
of at record speed, dense clouds OF smoke
were rising, and highly colored flames
were leapiug hundred feet and more
from the ground.
1--we watched this pleasing exhibition
for some minutes, until the cough Of an
Archie burst near by to remind as that
we were still over Hun land, and 20
turned and steered for home.
"The whole job occupied exactly So
minutes; but il must have cost Germany
hundreds Of man power hours in muni-
tions works-there was SIN some FIRE !;
there at noon next day--and saved our
French allies good many casualties,
for. as it happens, that big dump, we
learned, was to serve bit of front fac
ing French troops"