Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-08-05
AIR FIGHTERS OF ALLIES
MENACE GERMAN CAUSE
Enemy Has Great Difficulty In Sc
curing Raw Materials for, Manu-.
facturc of Airplanes
RECORD OF SINGLE WEEK
Entente Aviators Drop 80 Tons OF
Explosives In Single Week Recent.
ly. and Raid Fourteen OF Encmy's
Towns.


have become one OF ,no most mem
acng OF the shadows OF ultimate de-
feat fast falling athwarr the Kaiser.s
cause. Tho brilliant land fighting or
the men Foch is sending against the
army of the crown prince and the
fact that their featS can be clearly
summarized on pictured maps. has for
the moment caused general attention
TO be distracted from the great strides
being made by the men of the air
But in that group OF allied military
strateSists assigned to service here
which believes that the war will be
won in the air, the events of the past
thirty days have been thrilling. in
their promise of results far SURPRISING
the fondest dream OF those students on
modern warfare. who see In aircraft
the master weapon or the battling
armies. Day by day the reports from
the fighting fronts and from the naval
bases OF France and England have
continued to tell in brief sentences OF
the work Of the men In the air Daily
these reports have grown more and
more significant. But il is not until
one totals the achievements OF single
week that the true realization OF the
superhuman efforts now being put
forth BY the allied aviators is brough
home
AS yet no sign has come from Ger
many to indicate the terrible havo !
which tons Of allied bombs have Great.
cd at the sources OF munitions sup
ply and equipment, OF poison gas and
other supplies necessary TO trench
ia nt
at hand 70 attest the destruction which
the German flyers have suffered at the
hands OF the intrepid Italian. French.
British and American duc!ssts Of the
air.
Within the week signed order from
German headquarters was found upon
a captured German. The order was
dated June 20 and in tcrse words tells
the story OF the difficulties which the
kaiser's forces are encounterins in
seeking out the raw materials for
aircraft
The order reads:
The Increased difficulties which we
are experiencing in procuring the
necessary materials for aviation pur.
poses force us to be sparirg with our
machines. In order to meet this diff
hculty our avions will only be en-
ployed for carrying out operations o.
vital importance in the battle. All
officers are instructed TO avoid keen
ing the machines up in the air longer
than is absolutely necessary"
1t is in the work OF bombing the
nerve centers OF the German lines OF
communication. however, that the
allied airmen have given TO the Ger
man leaders true example OF what
is In store for them when the COM
p!eied air squadrons being prepared for
1919 arc sent into action. The record
or single week shows the amount
Of work and the telling blows which
arc being rained upon the Hun from
the sky. In recent week on the
western front the British alone brought
down l"2 enemy planes and sent
serenty-three TO earth out of control.
In that week the British lost fifty
two planes.
During the same period the allied
aviators dropped PIG tons OF eA-
plosives upon railway centers. trans
ports on roads. ammunition dumps.
hillets. rest camps and acrodromes
The losses which they inflicted upon
OF dollars. No estimate of the num-
Der Of casualties they inflicted is,
OF course, possible
In this work the Flyers raidcd four
teen industrial towns. ley also were
successful in six attacks against the
German aerodrome at Boulay. and
made four attacks on the Mctz-Sab-
Ions railway triangle. four against
Mannheim, three against Saarbrucken
and hurled bombs on the manufacturing
plants at Diedenhofen, Troyes. Fres-
caty. karthaus. Hagenaum. Romilly,
Awcibrucken. Ludwigshaafcn. OMEN
burg and Karlsruhe.
In their attacks against the sea.
coast towns in Belgium they were
equally effective. the navy flyers show
ing that wind and weather no longer
are the handicaps they once were In
fact. so successful are the navy flyers
that there is a belief in many quar-
ters that the aviators operating from
British posts may some day force the