Spies Landed by Aeroplane

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17840, 12 October 1929, Page 14 (Supplement)

Spies Landed by Aeroplane

American soldier of fortune and one of the original members of the famous Lafayette Escadrille, Lieutenant Bert Hall has given a graphic narrative of his adventures on the Western Front during the war and his experiences elsewhere in his book, ‘‘One Man’s War."

| Lieutenant Hall, who fought in turn 1 as an airman with the Turkish and ; Bulgarian forces during the Balkan ; War, came to France in 1914. He joined the Foreign Legion. Soon he was transferred to the French Mr Service, and there, with other Americans, he formed the Lafayette Escadrille, the air squadron that fought for France. Lieutenant Hall became an ace in the service, and developed the use of aeroplanes ’ In planting spies behind the German lines and picking them up later.. The method adopted was to land the spy along with a box of carrier pigeons behind the enemy’s trenches, so that he could send word back when to be picked up. "The first trip to Rocroi was uneventful," writes Lieutenant Hall. “I landed, the spy jumped clear of the plane, fished out his pigeon box and ran away into the near-by woods. I turned round and took off. . . . Three

himself up with a hand grenade and saluted before he perished. The , affair occurred behind the German i lines between Rheims and Machault. j Lieutenant Hall chased the enemy ■ plane up to about 14,000 feet, when : the German started throwing hand

grenades at him. “It was the first and only time I ever encountered such an attack In the air," writes Lieutenant Hall. “The German drew back his arm and let a grenade fly. Either his coat caught in something or the grenade struck the top wing. At least I do know that the grenade fell back into his own cockpit. Now, remember the fuse had been pulled on that grenade, and iu five or six seconds it was to explode, no matter where it was. The German pilot immediately let go of his controls. His ship lost altitude rapidly. I followed, and in that moment I could have shot him to pieces If I had wanted 1 to. But the German pilot was not worrying about me. He was scrambling around on the floor of his cockpit looking for the infernal machine which he had intended for my special benefit. Suddenly I realised that the German had taken hold of his controls again. He had by this time given up the idea of recovering the lost grenade i and I had given up the idea of shooting him full of holes. At what seemed to be the last possible moment he Ro«o Up in His Cockpit and, bringing his right hand up to his helmeted head, he saluted me in the best approved German manner. And almost at the same instant there was an explosion. The German’s machine split in two, and the front part, with the motor full open, dived 14,000 feet to destruction.’’

days later a message came jn from Intelligence headquarters that my spy was ready to return, and I was given orders to pick him up." Lieutenant Hall describes how He Returned to the Field

at Rocroi at the appoitned hour and landed. “There was no spy to be seen,” he proceeds. "I was about to take off again when I saw a wild,looking thing running through the grass. It was apparently a German soldier. Before I could open my motor and get under way the running figure had overtaken me, and with one bound landed himself in the rear cockpit. It was my spy all right. He had appropriated a German uniform for safety’s sake and hadn’t time to change." Lieutenant Hall describes an incident in mid-air when a German airman blew

Revealations by Flying Ace.-, German Pilot’s Dying Salute

Lieutenant Hall came ,in< contact with the notorious Mata Hari. “She was a beautiful woman,” he states. “She may have been a spy, but as long as I knew her she never asked me a single question about the war. And I knew her well—very, very well—in

fact, I don’t, believe she ever loved me, but it makes me—well, creepy when I think of her standing up before the firing squad, particularly after wc had made such violent protestations of affection to one another and had spent such wonderful times together.” At the beginning of 1917 Lieutenant Hall was sent, to Russia on a special mission, and was in Petrograd when the revolution broke out. He tells a story of how ( during the Kerensky regime, Trotsky tried hard to buy his American passport for £2OOO and a beautiful pear-shaped diamond; but Hall refused to barter. "I asked him,” Lieutenant Hall relates, “where he got the diamond, and he reared up, and in his very best East-side English, said, ‘Lieutepant Hall, there are times when one does not ask damn-fool questions I’" Lieutenant Hall escaped from Russia via the Trans-Siberian Railway—an 18-day journey, during which he had for company a Russian general’s wife who was fleeing to civilisation with an untold fortune in platinum and jewels hidden for the greater part in Hall’s luggage. He had his reward. “When we went ashore at Yokohama,” he writes, “Mme. SakaiToff (the general’s wife) at once went to computing the value of my protection. I do not know how she arrived at the final figure, but it was very satisfactory to me. The figure was 38,000 dollars (about £7000)."