Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-07-23
SEES TWO-HOUR
FIGHT IN UKRAINE
FROM A|RPLANE
Bombs Scatter CavaIrymen
in Attack on Reds From
the Skies.
BY GEORGE WHITE.
BY Cable to The Star and Chicago
Daily NeWs. COpyright, 1870.


! WITH THE POLISH ARMY ON THE
| UkRAINIAN FRONT, July % (via
Paris, July 23).-From the lofty ele-
walton of a Polish bombing plane to-
/ day / watched for more than two
hours the fighting between the Polish
and bolshevist forces over a front
of nearly forty miles. We dashed
over woodlands. fields. small lakes
| ano rivers. over country crossed and
| criss-crossed by trenches and dotted
with dugouts and gun emplacements
Burning villages and flaming forests
mixed their black smoke with the
white whiffs from field pieces. Cav
airy advancing and calvary retreatins
choked up the country roads and
large bodies of :nfaI try were blVou-
acked behind the lines.
Over BOlshevik ..Cubes."
Presently we were flying above
some strong Ibolshevik positions
Like tiny yellow cubes they appeared
some 400 feet below us. Quickly the
bolsheviki opened fire upon us. We
could see the red flashes on the
| ground below and soon after the tell
! tale smoke tails of the phosphorus
bullets trailed through the air below
| US. Then one bullet struck the left
wing of our machine perhaps two
| feet from where l was leaning out
of the observers cockpit. Panic
| LudomiI Ryski. a former Turkish ace,
who was plotting our machine, turned
around smilingly and signaled the
observer t. drop his bomb. Four
sharp clicks were audible as the
torpedo bombs followed one another
quickly through the trapdoor in the
cockpit.
bombs Are Dropped.
Firing below us had ceased and we
could imagine the bolsheviki running
for cover as the first and second
bombs struck the earth. and then the
third and fourth. All four bombs ex-
ploded and -enveloped the surround
ings in thick cloud of smoke which
quickly shot shyward. When the
smoke and dust had lifted we saw the
of a position below had been blown
away completely and in its place
/ there yawned black holes about ten
feet apart where the bombs had
struck.
| Just as the bolsheviki reopened their
! fire upon us We came again within
sight of one of the units of the Polish
flying squadron, whose members seem
! ed to be concentrating over little
| wood to our right, where heavy fight
! ing was in progress.
! Budenny's Men Prepare.
1 We. too, lowered over the scene of
this ground battle. Under the protec-
ton of bolshevist artillery. which
was hammering away fiercely at the
: Polish positions. a troop of Gen. Blu
denny's cavalry was getting ready for
one of the now famous and almost ir
resiStible attacks. Two or three long
columns were advancing across the
| fields. keeping as close to the wood
however, as they could.
AS we gazed down upon this scene
and were getting our bearings there
suddenly hove into the line of our
meath another Polish bombing plane
We saw the observer lean over the
side of his cockpit and hurl three
or four bombs down into that restless
crawling mass of humanity and
horses which appeared to us to be
little larger than an ant heap.
Aimed with Sure Hand.
The bombs could not have been
aimed with a surer hand. Each one
landed in the midst of group of
cavalrymen. There was an eruption
as each bomb struck. and the units
of the ant heaps scattered in every
direction. Riderless horses, rearing
and plunging. and endorsed cavalry
men tearing across the country on
foot to escape. Those riders who
still had control of their mounts made
all haste to get into the woods.
Later we saw a score or more of
dark and motionless figures lying in
the tall green grass in the field over
which they and hundreds of others
were riding only little while before.
wholly unsuspicious of the death
which lurked so near.