BOMBING HUN RAILWAYS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1390, 23 November 1918, Page 3

BOMBING HUN RAILWAYS

Bombing is of little use unless the result ol the raid is known. Tliis thought was firmly fixed in tlie mind ol Die formation leader as he led his flock over the line. When the objective eventually camp in sight, and he signalled to his followers to get on with the work ol destroying an important bridge, he himsell did no! drop his bombs and then withdraw mil of reach of clangor.; but circled slowly round in the air, waitiii" to sec what his fellows would accomplish. Despite the heavy shelling of "Archie" he remained ;i: his post, dodging and twisting, until the lasl bomb had been dropped. Each burst be watched carefully, but ns his attention was naturally somewhat distracted by the heavy shelling he endured he could not he .sure of the exact results ol the whole raid. At last the final "egg" was laid, and his flock withdrew. Then came the turn of the. leader—the moment, for which he had waited on high and endured a terrific shelling. Despite the inferno which concentrated around him lie put down the nose ol his machine, and dived for the bridge. Contrary to the general rule ol things and the expectations of the Huns, he did not at once dispose of his load ol explosives and leave for home. bill Hew coolly backwards and forwards aver the scene of the raid, inspecting the bridge and noting the damage done. Time after time he crossed the bridge at a height of well under 200 feet. Then, realising that the railway which crossed the bridge had not been severed he dropped still lower, and planted •JoOlbs of high explosive right in the cent re of the truck. A terrific explosion resulted, it flame of lire shot up-

rank and n hi a\ y pall ol -moke spread o-cr the spot.

For ;, iiuimcnt the formation leader viihdivw. but he still seemed hah to :eave the scene ol bis labours, and treated the terrific "Archie" and ma-chine-gun lire with contempt. When Ihe smoke cleared away be retntned and once more examined the bridge. This time lie smiled to himself, lor the rails lay lorn and twisted into strange shapes, sleepers had vanished altogether, and a huge hole yawned in the centre ol the embankment. To make quite sure of matters he dropped two smaller Ixmibs. and then, at last, satislied and quite certain as to the results o| the raid, lie withdrew and Hew off alter his returning formation, After landing he counted nearly a hundred holes in his planes, several r j|,s showed through the tattered .iibric, a longeron was cut. his control vires bad nearly been severed, and water was pouring from the pierced radiator, but he was able to give a ,cry complete and accurate account ol a most satisfactory raid.