Evening star., 1928-02-12

1 NiefmdnS lI1VO u WIN
fusion and blocking the highway VIII
a tanole of dead horses and overturned
wagons and guns. Fastening pack "
their airdrome. the two Americans ,ele-
nhoned the condition OF the ROAD W
artillery Headquarters and IN le"
n,inutes a storm of Yankee shells s'op-
ned the eremy's efforts 10 cieal ',e .s
h;obwav The Germans were 1orce9 W
ahandon their guns and stores ana ~
tare to the woods in wild flight "
This affair is a notable example OF
ono Of the functions when allpian.ss MI. :
ran perform in warfare. thrown o nv
confusion by the attack from "povs
and then completely smashed 1y sutin III,
working on information 1urnlsiNu 10y os
the aviators. the German fe'rtat wac
disordered at cost TO tnem oI ' ,,n.
sands OF prisoners ana sco.en ,,s ~. ,s,',s
which fell :nto the hanoS Va
charging infantry.
The Victory.
St Mihiel and the whole sai.ri' C,r @
;,,tn Awer,can hands in 20 hours. Oui ,
losses were less than 5000 men Kiiieo
ga wounded and a German army v!
"uar hundred thousand was puC
oon,n,ete,v out of action. The FrencIi
attacting a part Of the same poSa.oOoin, on
Of Monfsec In 1916 had iost 'o;"uo
r'or and had been able to hoio Ger :
man ground for only 20 mlnuHS' ,,L.,IoS In
raid on the balloon line hau ~, o ,,,o'
the German artillery at cr,.l.ai u, u,o ",
n,ent of the attack and Rlckeilpa. nv
and Chambers had played an li''po' po.rnat Cot
mart bv impeding the German TO
These three aviators hao play., ho,tIe
s,, rpCillt OIL tIlE bdltN
mendous part III 'i'e 'e'u''
on the ground. .,, e;r,,, over the
hott,cfeId Rickenbacker flew SO low
,,'at no was attacked by German
,,,arhine gun on the ground. 90 cioHe
,hat he could see the faces OF tie sul :,
ners "Rick" tipped his plane down a a.,o
cont hurst of bullets into tne ma, :,
cn;ne oun nest killing the gunner ana
sa,d;r9 his two companions running
for cover A minute later american
douehboys were swarming over tne gun
Tho ncxt dav saw RickenbacKer III
tho air alone at 8 o'clock In the morn : :.
;ng for look over the wide sweep OF
concmered cor territory Thiaucourt was
in the hands Of Pershing.s men am
pick" edged down over the captures
German airdrome for his first ciosfrup
inspection of the field which had speue'
so much trouble for him and MS squao-
ron In the past. ,,,,o
He neared the new German hle
miles in the rear of their position OF
the dav before. with cautious eye on
the surrounding sky. II was known
that Richtofen and his JaggdstateI
had moved from the Aisne and were
somewhere In the vicinity OF the Amer
ican advance. As he crossed the Mo-
selle. still watching for the Baron
deadly red-nosed machines. he saw the
smokepuffs of German "Archy' nre
toward Metz In few minutes large
SQUADRON of new all-Amrrican LIB
critics" came boring back from q bom-
bardment Of the gerat German fortress
which faced Verdun. Behind and above
them came four swift-flying Fokkers
anparently Just about to attack the
slower bombing planes. Rickenbacker
climbed into the sun and when nc had
reached high altitude looked down TO
see that the Fokkers had not been able
to catch the Yank bombers and nao
turned back toward Germany.
Although the odds were 70 J
aoaiiist him. Rickenbacker tipped his
plane down and plunged on the tai
Of the rear machine OF the German
flight. His first blast OF bullets went
straight through the German pilot'r
BODY ard the machine fell three miles
to the earth.
tcopvrtca, 1881