A RAID ON ESSEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17104, 8 September 1917, Page 11

A RAID ON ESSEN

FRENCH AVIATOR'S FEAT. (From Oua Own Cobbespondemt.) LONDON, July 13. While the German aviators were filling up with petrol for Saturday's raid on London, 84 French planes were raiding over a wide area of- German territory up to the Rhine. Of this -whole force only two machines failed to return to their base. Four were designed for Essen, but three of them failed to reach their abjective, and deposited their bombs where they would do mest good on nearer "objects, in the neighbourhood of Treves, Coblenz, and Lndwigshafcn. The airman who succeeded! in reaching Essen, and has been recommendpd for a medal, was Sergeant Gallois, who is a striking exception to tho general rule that young men mako the best airmen. Ho wag born in 1879, and before the war was a hardware merchant at Meneteu-sur-Cher.

On mobilising, he was in a dragoon regiment, but on account of his age was placed in charge of a hospital for sick, horses, from which he was only rescued as the result of repeated importunity. FOLLOWING THE RIVERS. Sergeant Gallois left his squadron at 9 p.m. Two of his companions who were bound for Essen only got as far as Cob- , lenz and Treves, owing, partly to fog and partly to their oil supply giving out. Sergeant Gallois was moro fortunate. Flying first up the valley of the. Moselle past Metz and Treves, he struck the Rhine, shining clear in the moonlight, at Coblenz. At both these towns he saw, as he passed, a furious bombardment of other members of tho squadron by German anti-aircraft batteries, and was himself subjected to ,very heavy fire on crossing the enetmy lines at the comparatively low altitude of under 4000 ft. —tho average height at which he travelled till he neftred the end of his journey. Before roachintt Metz, where he was followed by soarchlig-hte, and during the early part of his ran, he- v;ss bothered! by fog, but managed to steer a straight course by the compass and moon, and reached each point of his flight exactly at scheduled time, completing the -whole distance to Essen and back, about 450 miles, in seven houra—a fine record of sci«rtifie flying. From Coblenz he turned northward up the valley of! the Rhino, and from there onward his way w.ts brilliantly lit up for him by the bla-zin* fires of hundreds of munition works and factories. Apart frdm the actual damage to enemy works, which probably resulted from his bombardment of Eseen—that is the most valunblo result of his flight—he estabthe fact that an enormous amount of niffht work is being carried on by the Germans in the production of war material. He says that from Bonn onwards there is a Tegidai; blaze of electricity, which increased in intensity as he travelled further north past Cologne and Dtisseldorf, till, when he approached Essen, he saw -what looker! like brilliantly illuminated cliffs stretching for miles on each side of the town. , \ We are told that above Essen, Gallois rose to a height of 6000 ft to avoid tho antiaircraft defences of the town, and began circling round looking for tho districts where the lights of workshops wpre denswt on which to drop his bombs. All the time he was exposed to a fierce bombardment. When he selected his ground, still circlinjr round! in tho same way, ho let drorj his 10 bombs, one after the other, at intervals of 10 seconds, though he was not able to maJce sure of their effect bwine , to the glare from tho factory chimnc-yR. Early in tho flight he had lost his motor goggles, and ultimately he was almost blinded, so that ho was not certain whether he had got back to France until he caught sip;n of a signal that told him ho had reached tho aerodrome from which ho had started. In landine he had an accident with his machine through not being ftblf to see clearly, but he is none the worse for his adventures.