The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-04-18
For Every Bomb Dropped in Eng
land 999 Are Sent Down
In Germany.
SILENCE MANY BATTERIES
Feature OF the Ali Combat 10 the Con-
tinuous 0alIantry and Audacity Of
the PiIots-Diterence In
Strategy.

London.-Captain M, n of the
British Flying corps, ambling watch
fully behind a great bank OF rolling
clouds, spied In a rift below a Ger
man patrol Of six machines. The com-
bat was short, sharp and unequal. I'm
mediately his gun barked off. A Ger
man dived headlong for the earth. His
leader swept out Of formation to meet
the daring Britisher and followed suit.
Enraged, the four others dashed for
our man simultaneously, firing as they
came. For the latter only n course
was optional. Sweeping low from the
sky until he almost skinned the tree
tops and the roofs Of the houses he
reached home In safety.
Which Is to relate a recent blythe
way air raid incident In that thrilling
and most audacious factor of up-to-
date warfare, aerial activity. When
the day is clear and bright or when
the hunters moon Eliminates the night
the pilots and observers of the Royal
Flying corps work overtime, and then
some. From dawn to dawn, without
intermission, until the rain clouds
gather or the fresh wind grows too I'M
ruly, they are hard at 1t. fighting high
up among the clouds or bombing rail-
ways ammunition dumps, aerodromes
and blllets I'm back villages.
Nine Hundred and Nlnety-Nine for One
For every bomb on London In a Ger
man raid there have been 9 dropped
by our men on points and posts behind
their lines. In this new warfare OF
give and take while the Boches are
busy over England the English are
buster. over Bocheland. In a single day
as the result of aerial observation 127
hostile batteries were silenced, % gun
pits were destroyed, 80 men were
bombed and over 90 explosions were
caused In ammunition dumps.
In two short months 1900 bombs,
ag~gregating a weight of 23S tons, were
placed at the disposal of troops, in
trenchments and batteries In the
enemy lines. The r.. f. G. In the period
from Saturday. February 10, to
Wednesday. February 20, accounted
for 20 German airplanes with a loss of
II. The naval airmen bagged a further
eight without loss and the French
were responsible for 20.
The German airmen are not lacking
In courage. but the policy Of their COM
manders appears to be to maneuver
them in large formations. Is and 20 at
a time. Six Is a common party. The
''tip and run" strategy of their bomb
ers is only Of advantage at night. From
a great altitude they "lay their eggs
indiscriminately and then make off at
a breakneck speed for their base. The
larger types Of machines. such as the
triplane, are greatly favored. And
more than anything they are lacking
In that code of traditions fostered by
the British navy and 50 admirably de
veloped by the airmen.
Audacity Of Pilots.
The outstanding feature Of the air
combat Is the continuous gallantry and
audacity Of the British pilots. One
youthful veteran. attacked by a fight
ing formation Of Boches, fired into one
machine, which turned over on Its back
and spun down put Of control. Their
he turned his attention to another and
fired 200 rounds into II. Suddenly II
went into a spin and crashed.
Out with a battle flight of our owl
the following day he added another
German to his bag. Then, to make full
measure that day, he spun lower ant
fred an observation balloon. In thu
afternoon he finished the aggregate Of
four enemy airplanes and a balloon II
three days.
Two British machines photography
bound ran up against half a dozen o.
the enemy's. Strictly speaking, theirs
was a noncombatant craft, but, an
noyed at the interruption, they lait
about the enemy with their machine
gun t such effect that In a short time
they had knocked out two Of their at
tackers. The rest then few away ant
the Britons returned In peace to theiI
picture making.
Recently our bombers achieved a di
rect hit on a German army kinems
with results which, according to a pris
oner's story, were disastrous. Immedi
ately the Germans retaliated by bomb
ing our hospitals and stretcher bearer
behind the lines.