The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-11-24
HAVOC WROUGHT BY. BRITISH A|RMEN IN
 RAIDS IN BELL GUM.
Seventeen Tons of Bombs Were Dropped in Area Behind Ostend and
 Zeebrugge

Dunkirk, France, October T.-(Cor- Eespondence of the Associated Press) Ruin rained from the skies upon the Herman areas back of Ostend and Zee- 7prugges at the beginning of the great Iliied offensive on the Belgian coast. today the whole country in the rear Of ne German lines shows the scars of nore than IT tons of bombs dropped Eipon the German endorsements line 'enters by aviators of the royal air forces. Every squardon and battery
 hat returned to the British lines re- Borted great fires burning where am- Enunition dumps and stores of gasoline bad been hit. They told of trains brought to standstill by great era
 CTS torn in their lines by airplane bombs.
 While British monitors lying off the Belgian coast raked the German bat Eeries at Ostend and Zeebrugge with 5-inch shells, the air attacks concern frated on the reinforcement lines be- tlind the German front. The triangle Rf railroad with Thourout, Lichter- &relde and Cortemarck at it's corners, Evas the center of the British airplane
 
 Toad functions, but 5000 yards apart were targets for the fifth group of British air forces.
 ! Dawn breaks late at this season and It was still dark, with dash of rain. | when the hour for starting arrived. From the various aerodromes the 1 tormati lifted into the drenched air md were quickly lost in the low-hang- Ing clouds. To the south of them, be- Fond Dixmude, the battle already was Il progress. Seven machines were lost n the Hurry of night and bombs, but l he rest hurried on and arrived over heir targets.
 The first bombs were falling by ' P,clock in the gray, rainy morning
 he pilot who dived upon Barren let kso his bombs from a height of only 700 feet, where he could see them land Ind burst in the troop -conjected town Another pilot happened upon a large Ealibre battery emplaced to the north if Staden. He dived through the clouds 10 a height of 200 feet before he let Eso his bombs and then waited aIoft intil he was sure the battery had Eeased to fire
 Squadron after squadron of airplanes [tll flying low roared over the three functions at the angles of the "rail- |vay triangle" bombing them indus riously. Every road had it's watchful tweeping airplane. There was no safe hannel for the hurrying currents of ierman traffic. A train going south rom Thourout was raided by, an air. 'lane pilot who came down to within % feet of the ground and flew past he train. his machine gun sweeping he troops who spouted forth from it. 'hree trains were set on fire and dt- ect hits were made on four others. Near Werchem, the road was occu- pied for a mile by a transport column. Eighteen well directed bombs converted he moving column into horrible bar icade of smashed wagons and lorries,
 cad horses. dead and wounded men. he survivors scattered to wide ditches 'n either side of the road. With two #nachine guns firing together 1900 ounds a minute the airplane pilot aked both ditches. Many casualties mong personnel" was the official tatement of the result.
 As daylight broadened and the weather improved every railway and very road behind the German lines vas river of vehicles and men, but he airplanes had lard a line of danger cross the country which the Germans lad to travel from their bases to the ront, where the British and Belgians were driving the Hun line backward. That night the great railway siding bear Ghent, where 2500 trains can uo idle by side, was brightly lit and fever sh with activity. Trains were shunt- Ing and pulling in and out noisily for he German front was yielding before he allied thrust and risks had to be aken. Down came the bombs and the 'ilots saw the flash of their explo- ions in the train- jams and the sidings md forthwith the lights flickered out nd darkness and terror added them elves to the confusion and urgency below.
 Thereafter the Germans, when they moved large bodies or troops. moved hem under cover of night and possi- fly across the fields. The air barrage cross the ways to the front was an invisible one, that wavered and shifted nd was deadly; 1t was as though there ose from the marshy land a drifting niasma of death.