KAISERSLAUTERN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 53, 2 March 1918, Page 8

KAISERSLAUTERN.

BOMBED BY BRITISH AIRMEN, The Germans have been dosed with their own medicine. On November Ist Kaiserslautern was bombed—bombed in the daytime, on a fete day, while the district was on holiday and the town was crowded with holiday-makers. Kaiserslautern is a large town of German Bavaria, nearly 100 miles east of the French frontier. Due north of Strasburg, it is right on the valley of the Upper Rhine. The town has a strong historical association. Nearly 900 years ago the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa built a palace there. But its importance with regard to the war rests in the numerous factories which it possesses. These were the objective of the British airmen. For once the weather seemed in our favour. The daily reports for the preceding week had contained little ehe but successive mentions of fog, rain, and even snow. The of 'October 31 was stormy, but the following morning was fine and promising, and by noon our formations were over the line. The conditions held good as far as Pirmasens, but thereafter thick clouds were encountered. Not a landmark could be picked up. and the pilots Peered entirely by compass. As the objective was neared the cloud banks became more woolly and opaque. But at length a rift was discovered. And through the rift appeared Kaiserslautern. The glimpse gave us our bearings, and down through the clouds went our bombs : bombs of 2301b and bombs of 1121b. The results could not be seen, but the explosions could be heard. It was a romplete surprise for Kaiserslautern. The clouds hid our machines from view, and the anti-aircraft shells which soon came screaming up were woefully wide of their mark. Our formations be.came separated in the fog. Not far from the line five of our machines were attacked by seven enemv scouts, fast fighting Albatross of the I>l and D 5 types. came on confidently, and soon everyone of our pilots was hotly engaued. But, one of the Germans got riddled with bullets and went into a spinning nose-dive. The fabric of his machine could not stand the strain—an increasingly marked sign, this, of Germany's defective aeroplane supplies. First one wing came off and then the other, and skimmed to the ground far away from the heavier wreckage of the body. The enemy broke off the action, and our formation crossed the line in safety. All the machines engaged in this raid returned to their own aerodrome with the exception of one which lost its way in the fog and landed on a neighbouring French enclosure. They had kept the air for four hours, and the performance speaks eloquently of the merits of both pilots and machines.