AERIAL REPRISALS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 6, 8 January 1916, Page 13

AERIAL REPRISALS

THE BOMBARDMENT OF STUTTGART j. . ' !£ PILOT'S STORY. "My friend, there is not much to tell." Not much to tell! H,e was an' energetic yonng officer of the French Aviation Corps. All I had.asked (writes the special correspondent of the New York Tribune from Paris) was a description of the most ambitious aeroplane raid in history—when 62 powerful machines swooped down upon Stuttgart, and dropped more than 200 bombs as a reprisal for the series of Zeppelin raids on London in the early part of September. The man who stood by ray side had piloted one of the invading craft. "Then tell me 'not much,' whatever that may be," I Urged. , He glanced upward, where dozens of | the great white birds were speeding to and fro in-the blue sky. All about was | the deafening -roar of\ high-powered motors. Talking in such a racket was difficult, t followed him to a hut. "I suppose," he began, "that to us j who have been. flying hour after hour, day after day, since the war began, that raid was more or less of a routine proposition—all" in the day's work, you would say. As you know, the flight took place in the early morning. It was very foggy, and one had to come quite close > v to distinguish the face of another '! "Fire was belching from the motors all down the line at ths helpers started the warming-up process. ■ H there was the slightest foreign sound as a motor settled down to work, the machine was discarded and replaced by another. On such a trip, one must not trust to hick. He must know that his machine will bring him back—provided "of coarse, the enemy does not find him with a few chunks of shrapnel." THE START. The flier went into a description of tho method of and dropping bombs. Then, resuming his story, said : "To get on—as they say in England—it wasn't long before everything was ready for the trip. At the last ■pinnto I remember seeing some of the living ruon bolting down a roll as they climbed into their places.. On my part, T was not hungry, but forced myself to eat a bit because the long flight in the cold morning woaH have left mo ravenous otherwise!. . "Two machines swept into the air. They were the pilots of the fleet. "Wo were to follow them as they steered towards our objective. Of course, ■we all had insi-rmneti.te fo* navigation if tbo mist prevented our keeping together otherwise. The machines started at inter vals of almost a, minute owing *» the thick weather. We kne* ti»t thn air would be clearer as we climbed and that the mist would vanish wbep the sun came up. Something like twelve machines were aloft when we gtarted. It was a splendid sight as we rojse above the haze that bung over the earth. To the east the sky was lighting up with the dawn, and before us the procession of big fighting birds waa sweeping steadily into the growing' light. "An occasional glance to tho rear showed place after plane palling up out of the sea of fog below. They "seemed to come from nowhere. It was as a magician pulling rabbits out of a hat. After all, I think I did enjoy that flight. Soon some of the machines ahead began to circle or climb a bit so as not to get too far in advance of the main body, and gradually wo got into shape, flying in a flock 'arid at the.same altitude—about 4000 ft, perhaps less. The noise of those 60 big motors was like continoas thunder. Wo could not hear ono another if we shouted, so there was nothing to do but fly—fly—fly. NO BELIEF IN REPRISALS. " I remember thinking then about our purpose-^ I don't think I believe in reprisals if it means the death of noncombatants. But the German methods in this war have been so brutal that it is hard to understand your own feelings. I wondered, vaguely if any of my bombs would kill children. I hoped not, and determined to keep over railroads and military establishments if possible. " The air cleared with remarkable suddenness. It was as if a.v unseen hand had turned on the light of the world by pressing a hidden ewitch.\ Tho earth was below us once more. Sure enough, there it was, neatly plotted out "into th© strange carpet that appears when great heights set the hills at naught,1 as a child's shovel levels an uneven pile of sand. And we were passing iuto; —or over—the enemy's country. We left the battle-torn regions for those that were still_ untouched Perhaps the best illnstration I can give is the comparison between a dirty blanket and a gaily-pieced quilt. But there was no time to admire, for our work was at hand. " For there was Stuttgart. We were upon it almost before we realised the fact. Iti nestled in the heart of a soft green world. Lying down there like a toy city, it looked very peaceful. My craft sailed along like a flat-bottomed boat on a mil] pond. The air was still and without swirls and 'bumps.' I looked out at the great wings on either side, and felt perfectly' safe and secure. It is a fine thing to have a well-built airplane. " My partner was leaning forward. We were headed directly over the heart of the place, and it required no effort to keep her to her coutee. I nosed her down a little, and- we descended perhaps 500 feet, which • would bring us over at an altitude of approximately 3000 feet. My observer indicated a cloud of smoke on the other side of the city. That meant the railroad yards, and there were the toy tracks stretching ■ off into the distance. " Suddenly, from th© line of machines before us a score of black objects hurtled down. We looked as they fell, and dimly sa,w clouds.of dust or smoke arise where they .struck. It resembled the bursting of a lot of puff-balls, such as we used to find in the fields when, we were youngsters. No noise — just the same old beat of our motors. Then we saw other puffs—not where tne bombs fell. That meant the Germans were after us with tho anti-aircraft guns. 'But in all my flying I never have worried about that, and never have tried to avoid bombardment from the ground. So I kept on. EXPLOSIVES DROPPED, "The two machines on our left were exactly abreast of us as we came directly over tlio city. They passed over the Royal Palace and let go half a dozen bombs at that point. I saw them drop, and wondered i£ they hit, tho palace. But I could not see, and it was afterwards that wo learned that they had found their mark. Then my aide began his work. As we boomed along towards the railroad yards, we passed over a group of factories and storehouses. It was there we dropped our first explosives. We must have made some trouble) for it was a fair mark, and we lei them have- two explosive and two ine'endiaries. The balance wo reserved for the railroad "It was all .over'in "a minute. As wo reached tho railroad my assistant van working tha releasing dovjets w i«r.t i

signalled me with his hand, and I looked for a chance to turn without colliding with my neighbours- I climbed rapidly for a little, and it was not until I banked her up for tho turn tha-t I noticed three gaping; and jagged holes in our wings. My observer later told me that ho had seen the shrapnel tear one of the holes, but had felt nothing. "When we swung back and looked down, there\ were columns of smoke in at least ten places. We could see that there was a lot of wreckage in the railroad yards, but did not know how much damage had been done. I could not see what had happened to the palace, as we passed far to the west sof it. The ugly little puffs of smoke told us that tho guns were still at work, and as we drew out of range two airplanes started up, but after circling for a few minutes descended.

"It was rather weird in a way. We heard nothing and ! saw 'nothing very clearly.. We Jia'd to wait (or official reports to know exactly^tvhat had been accomplished. ■ Certainly the raid was successful in that it seriously crippled the railroad connections, as we were informed afterwards.

"There is no more. Nothing happened on the homeward trip. A few of our men were wounded by bits of shrapnel, but nons of them died. I was getting very hungTy, and went for food as soon as we landed. Four machines had arrived when we came down, and, with the exception- Of two, all' of them returned to the starting point. The two mentioned were forced to land at other points, within our own lines, however."