New-York tribune., 1918-06-12
Germans Trapped by Own Decoy
Slay One Another in Air Fight

opened fire. AT this distance ne
poured stream of bullets into the
enemy craft. which rocked about in
distress a moment and then dropped.
AS it fell, flames broke out and it shot
across the night sky like a great me-
teor.
Airmen Escape From Enemy
remarkable narrative Of the escape
of two British aviators from German
territory after their machine had
crashed has just reached the CORE
spondent. The incident began on the
night of May 27, when pilot and OBJ
server embarked on their bombing eX-
petition. Their machine was hit by an
anti-aircraft shell, which caused their
engine to cut out. The pilot essayed a
landing in the dark The shock was so
severe when they struck the ground
that the observer was rendered uncon-
scious for a few moments. When he
recovered, the two men started off in a
southwesterly direction
After about half an hours walk they
reached German battery of heavy
guns. They crossed over one of the
gun emplacements and continued run
ming and walking alternately, with the
enemy on every side.
Soon they came to a communication
trench. where they could hear the Ger
mans talking. For considerable time
forward toward the front line and
came to barbed wire cntangleme
Here their big aviators' suits became
too heavy. They left them on the wire
Hide in No Mans Land
By this time dawn was breaking, so
they crawled through a hedge in No
Mans Land and remained hidden
there They had only one stick of
chocolate between them and no water,
and before the day was out they were
suffering bitterly from hunger and
thirst From their hiding place they
could sec German shells bursting sew
eral kilometres away in the direction
of the French lines, and they knew
that where these shells were landing
must be friendly territory.
At nghtfall they left their hiding
place and proceeded toward the Allied
they followed for some time, having
tc get through numerous ba:bed wire
er tanglcnents, which cut them wicked
lv. They then made for the woods,
bur here they were challenged and fired
at. They could not tell whether the
sentries were German and French. After
this they kept in the open, hiding in
the long grass when troops were OBJ
served During the whole of this time
they were fired at occasionally by rifles
and machine guns.
Observer Swims River
The next obstacle was another river.
The pilot was poor smlmmer, and SO
the observer swan across to see u
there were any wire entanglemcnts IN
it, He found it clear, and returned 'or
his companion.
By now they were almost pcrishing
with cold and made off as fast a 8 pos
sible. A sentry, apparently French,
challenged them, but as they were
not sure whether he vas French or
German, the observer answered:
"Pardon," and they ran for their
lives.
BY following light from an avi-
alton lighthouse they finally arrived
at village where they found French
soldiers, who conducted them to the
French commander. They arrived at
the end of the journey at a o'clock
in the morning, two days after their
start from their broken machine.
! The British air service has been
improving steadily in recent days.
This has been due, perhaps, to an in
crease in men and equipment.
Americans Work Praised
Last Sunday fourteen German planes
were destroyed, and four others were
shot down out OF control along the
British front. There is an increasing
number of German aviators being
captured unhurt along this front Usu-
ally these men have been shot at.
The Americans attached to the Brit
ish air force are doing excellent work
A British staff officer, speaking with
the correspondent yesterday, was high
in praise of their deeds. They are not
only most able, he said, but they are
congenial associates. The British have
been delighted at the type of men who
have come to them, and the relations
between the Allies are eminently cor
dial.
Not only has the air service seer
steady Improvement, but the anti-air
craft defenccs have shown equal prog
ress. More than four score enemy
planes were shot down from the grount
during March, April and May.