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Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 272, 2 November 1916, Page 4

The importance of the air .service on the Somme lia.s be.-n specially emphasized by Sir Doimir.s Haig in his' despatches, and an anonymous writer in "Land and Mater ’ supplies some particulars of the work winch our airmen are carrying out in that region, .and of the machines which we are using. Recent reierenee has been made to the small aeroplane destroyers which are being used on this front, and the writer of th ni ck u nt'm .1 above states that t ( ni'l uit lines are inosi. popu 1 it in lil "Tlie business 1 tbe Utt] in'll, nne,” he states, “is to ] e mobile to climb quickly, and io secure tms Quickness, which is its one defence, all other qualities mus b and aie sacrificed to the limit of risk. ... It generally

has a fixed maemne gun arranged so as to fire through the disc of the propeller, and the airman aims the. gun by aiming the whole machine to which it is rigidly fastened. Such an areoplane was the Morane (badlycopied by the Germans in their Fokker, for all that the latter i as cleverly advei tised bi tl .. C er n ins)

. . . The functions of t.ie machine are notable. Its busme s is ludq to go over the eneniv s land at all, . . . It. waits for the eneniv s aeroplanes. It does tins waiting either on the gt > inn s i no, ig ]Yl to the air at 1000 feet nev minute as soon as be comes into view, or when he is announced rr mg ci e* i waits on high —at 10.000 or 14.000 feet, and from there its ob]ect is to pounce, and policing rm is rooting at incredible, speeds, because the downhill gradient i ic i de p and the movement inav thus correspond to working at the rate ol an engine power of 200. or even 200. horsepower for the period ct ns descent. This mobility enables it, to keep behind the raid"i ic i q nit ih < h forms its pi apt i pre I' ikettd from the effect ox tne raider s gun by keeping behind the planes, or behind the tail and rudder of its enemy. When the Germans had suffered severely from our Moranes and Bristols they copied us. They put up some bright and clever young pilots like Immelmann and Eoelcke. who—no discredit to them—selected their prey amongst those who were laden with bombs, or who with ■slower double-seater machines were engaged in the painfully trying work of directing our artillery fire, or photographing the new trenches, or the latest movements of troops. M r ar is war, we have done just the same to them, with at least equal success and with less advertisement.”

A recent cablegram stated that the enemy achieved some slight successes at Blaise Wood, in the Somme region, where the attackers were preceded by men dressed in asbestos clothes, and carrying a new grenade, which bursts into flame on striking the ground. This appears to be an “improvement" upon the flame projector which the enemy has frequently used in his attacks. That the flame projectoi is not always an unqualified success was recently illustrated by the story of a French soldier who was an eyewitness of an attack by Germar flame-throwers, in the Somme area. His comrades had been withdrawn from a front trench to a positioi about fifty yards in the rei’r, and he had been left hidden, in a big tree, with instnic<inns to tob'phom to the nearest battery the movements of the enemy. After wailing for over an hour he was able telephone, r; Enemy advancing, led by a detachment of •'llamcnwen’er. ’ ’ Recounting his experiences to a French the soldiei said: —"1 ha 1 recou ised the devilish apparatus cm a by the fore most group. M b n the latter wen about thn’tv ft i m the ctnpiy trencn they h tit 1 ii a hollow 7 jusi below 7 ttie ri: e in t* < ground, and then, with iq p )h suddenness a dozen jets of i hit id yellow flam es darted un t i ill pltnnb in the trencn. Tne dense wnoke hit! the rest of the Germans, and almost choked me; but. thanks to my mask I was able to gasp information to the battery. It, was then I had a glimpse of w-hat hell must be like. Our gunners had the range to an inch, and a torrent of shells burst right among the fire-throwers. Great sheets of flame sprang up, one jet from an exploding container just grazing me, burning my clothes and scorching my ribs rather badly. But it was impossible to escape. The ground w-as a sea of fire. In the midst of it the Germans, like living torches, were dying horribly. One man spun round like a top, not even trying to run away, until he fell in a pool of flame. Others rolled on the ground, but the blazing liquid ran round them everywhere, and I could smell the horrible odour of burning flesh. I don’t think any fire-throw 7 ers escaped. Their screams heard despite the cannonade and rifle fire, seemed to continue terribly long. The company behind them seemed panic-stricken. As the smoke lifted I saw them running back to the wood, and our mitrailleuses did severe execution.”

It has perhaps caused no surprise that many people believe, or half believe, that Marshal von Mackcnsen is really General Hector Macdonald, who committed suicide in Paris a year or livo after the South African War. Immediately after his death, it began to be rumoured that he was not dead at all, and the legend grew up that it was really he who led the Japanese land forces at Port Arthur. Now. however, there is a new legend : it i n>t V kensen, but Brussiloff, who is Macdonald. A reporter ot the New York “Press” found a Mi 1 uk in New York, who is a cousin of Hector Macdonald, and this ladv says she is “absolutely certain that Brusiloff is Macdonald m ctisguise. She says the phi si il i semblance is clear enoueh. and finds significance in “the qi t j i 1 extraordinary circumstances connected with the rise of t J i iin commander. It is odd that a man in supreme command of one of the greatest offensives of the war should be of a previous history totally unknown.” One would suppose that even a child of ordinary intelligence would recognise the absurdity of these stories, but still, many growp-ups believe them.

The situation on the Hungarian frontier of Rumania is not yet just, as satisfactory as could be wished. AVhile on the eastern section the enemy appears to be fairly firmly held, on the western, where seemingly be is making his chief efforts. In-' has made some progress into Runianian territory at more than one point, driving down towards the railway system eounceied with Bukharest. Though there is no reason for considering the position to be aet.ualh critical, there is still quite sufficient room for anxiety wit h regard to developments at this end of the long border line, ami further news will be awaited with sonic little concern . At the same time, however. the Rumaninim lune, at one point at least, forced the AustroGerman troops back across the frontier. From Russia there is news of heavy fighting in Eastern Gilieia. which has not resulted with invariable favour to our Ally. Although there is. of course, nothing in the nature of a no’able reieree. there is quite sufficient to show that the enemy is in very considerable strength. On the Salonika front, howcvei. the Allies have met with some successes that prove their superiority over the Bulgarians, and should have the effect of relieving the pressure in the. Dobrudja region, from which there is, so far, no fresh news to hand. On the Somme the British have made a further slight advance in the neighbourhood of Les Boeufs, while the French have repulsed an intensely violent counterattack at Sailly-Salli'sel. The German press professes to be entirely satisfied with the position on the Somme, and declares that the previously acknowledged superiority of the Allies’ artillery has now been counterbalanced. There is no furtl i r word from the Verdun area, nor have we anv- message from either or the main Italian fronts. The Vmted States seems to be exercised o r the sinking of the Marina, whose loss, it is now established, ended in the lives of several Americai s being sacrificed. The President is having “investigations” made, wh ch will no doubt be protracted bevond the election day, m order to avoid the unpleasant necessity for flf daring a course of action before the final votes are cast.