WRECKING A BRIDGE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 68, 20 March 1919, Page 2

WRECKING A BRIDGE.

AIRMAN'S AMAZING DEED. THIRTY MILES BEHIND HUN LINES The bridge was thirty miles behind the tierman lines. It had to be destroyed, and quickly, too. So it was decided to do it in rather a novel way.

A two-seater aeroplane was detailed for the work, and after careful study of the map of the neighbourhood of the bridge the two airmen flew away in the moonlight across the German lines until they arrived at the river over which the railway passed. The pilpt throttled the engine, swept down to the ground, and landed in a field near a wood. Our jumped the observer, and the pilot put on his engine and climbed up into the air again, while the observer ran to the wood and began to creep quietly through it to the river.

Arrived at the bank a few hundred yards from the bridge, ho waded waistdeep into the water, and made his way as quietly as he could in the chadow of the bank towards the bridge.

Meanwhile the pilot was drawing the attention of the guards of the bridge by flying round and round a few hundred feet above, and continually diving down and letting them have a few rounds from his machine-gun.

A loaded troop train which was about to pass stopped, and the men crowded to the windows to see'what was happening. The airman then entertained them with a couple of bombs, which he dropped uncomfortably near the train.

All this timo the observer had been creeping unnoticed to the bridge, and was now underneath it, feverishly prying out a brick from one of the arches. At last he got it out, and put in the cavity a strong explosive charge. Above him he could hear the clamour of the circling aeroplane, the tapping of i the: machine-gun, and the occasional crash of a bomb. He started the fuse and waded back till he thought he was far enough from the bridge, climbed the bank, and hurried through the moonlight and the dim shadows of the wood till he reached the place where he had dropped from the aeroplane, and waited.

Soon he saw the machine coming down. It landed, ran along towards him, and he climbed in. Just as he had got settled down in his place he saw a great red flash light up the woods, and heard the roar of the exploding charge under the bridge.

The pilot pushed forward the throttle, the aeroplane rushed over the grass, and shot into the air. Below lay the dim wood and the glittering river, now crossed by no hard black line; for the centre section of the bridge was missing, and the damaged train faced a gap it could, not pass.