Part 9 (1/2)
”I happen to be wounded, General”
”Wounded, you! It's i broken, he is a ician, no doubt of that You cannot be wounded
However, lean uponhi _sous-lieutenant_ in front of the troops Fro, first half-suppressed, and then swelling into a for spontaneously to the men's lips
Cerebral commotion required Guyneain The month of October on the Somme was marked by an i considerably reinforced and supplied with new tactics Guynemer defied the new tactics of nuroup of three one-seated planes, and another group of five A second time he made a sortie, and attacked a two-seated plane which was aided by five one-seated ed six battles with one-seated and two-seated machines, all of whichStill this was not enough, and he set forth again and attacked a group of one Albatros and four one-seated planes ”Hard fight,” says the journal, ”the enee”
He broke off this coe in another with an Albatros which had surprised Lieutenant Deullin at 50day, Nove his nineteenth and twentieth): his first victim, at whom he had shot fifteen times from a distance less than ten meters, fell in flames south of Nesle; the other, a two-seated Albatros, 220 HP Mercedes, protected by three one-seated machines, fell and was crushed to pieces in the Morcourt ravine This double stroke he repeated on the twenty-second of the saain on January 23, 1917 (his twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh), and still again the next day, the twenty-fourth (his twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth victories) In addition, here is one of his letters with a stateer headings or endings to his letters; he makes a direct attack, as he does in the air
26-1-'17
_January_ 24, 1917--Fell on a group of five Boches at 2300 I brought the, at 800 meters (one wire stay cut, one escape pot broken) At the end of the boxing-round, 400behind a one-seated ed to puo
1145--Attacked a Fritz, let hio at 800 meters, my motor spattered, but the Boche landed, head down, near Goyancourt I only count hied
At this instant, I see a Boche cannonaded at 2400, hence at 1150 a boxing round necessary with a little Ruot a bullet in his lung; the passenger, who fired at ot one in his knee The two reservoirs were hit, and the whole nieres, within our lines I landed alongside; in starting in again one wheel was broken in the plowed frozen earth In taking away the ”taxi” the park people completely demolished it for me It was rushed to Paris for repairs
25--I watch the others fly, and fume
26--Bucquet loaned me his ”taxi” No view-finder; only a wretchedly bad (oh, how bad!) sight-line
At 12 o'clock--Saw a Boche at 3800; took the lift--Arrived at the sun--In turning, was caught in an eddy-wind, rotten tail spin--While co at un jammed; but the Boche seeht south Off we go! But I took care not to get too near so that he would not see that un was out of action The altiht I hted hi away at ; I rose 500 an to think an to descend again I placed myself at a distance of 10 er aine: 1000800 , stopped aiht! I saw under his belly that four shells had struck the mark 400 meters: the Boche slowed up his ”_o and watched him land At 100 meters I circled and found I was over an aerodroes, I could not prevent thenificent 200 HP Albatros When I saw they had been surrounded, I landed and showed the Boches un Sensation They had fired at one through their altimeter and their tachometer, which had caused their excitement The pilot said that an airplane had been forced doo days before at Goyancourt: passenger killed, pilot wounded in legs--had to have one ainal confirmation will be accepted, which will make 30
Thirty victories, twenty or twenty-one of which occurred on the Sohts The last one surpassed all the rest He fought unarht ith sword broken, s his adversary to bay What a scene it hen the Gerer, prisoners, becaun had been out of action! Once more he had imposed his will upon others, and his power of do of February, 1917, the Storks Escadrille left the So, and flew into Lorraine
CANTO III
AT THE ZENITH
I ON THE 25TH OF MAY, 1917
The destiny of a Guynemer is to surpass himself Part of his power, however, must lie in the perfection of his weapons Why could he not forge theunshter Nothing in the science of aviation was unknown to him, and Guynemer in the factory was always the same Guynemer He worked with the sauns to avoid the too frequent and too troublesoement of the instruments and tools in his airplane in accordance with his superior practical experience, as when he chased an enemy He wanted to compel the obedience of matter, as he con he had forced doo airplanes in a single day, and then four in two days In Lorraine he was to do even better At that ti of 1917, the German aerial forces were very active in Lorraine, but the city of Nancy paid no attention to theainst the mountain of Saint Genevieve and the Grand Couronne; she had withstood a boantic shells and visits froood humor and her animation She was one of those cities on the front who are accustoe, for co to cities behind the lines So on the Place Stanislas left their tables to watch some fine battle in the air, after which they resu Rhenish by Moselle wines Nevertheless, the frequency of raids, and the destruction caused by bo Nancyites decidedly unpleasant The Storks Escadrille, which arrived in February, very proands, by a police policy both rapid and severe The eneorously chased, and less than a ed in an orderly manner around the statue of Stanislas Leczinski, reassured the population and served as an interesting spectacle for the visitor who could no longer have the pleasure of adates, the two monumental fountains consecrated to Neptune and Amphitrite, by Guibal, and which were then covered by coarse sacks of earth
Guynemer had contributed his share of these _spolia opima_ On March 16 he alone had forced down three Boches, and a fourth on the 17th Three victories in one day constituted a novel exploit Navarre had achieved a double victory on February 26, 1916, at Verdun, and Guyneesser had burned a drachen and two airplanes in one ; but three airplanes destroyed in one day had never been seen before
On that sa Guynemer wrote to his family, and I transcribe the letter just as it is, with neither heading nor final for of Spain, in _Ruy Blas_, talks of the weather before he tells of the six wolves he has killed; but the new Cid fought in all weathers and speaks of nothing but his chase:
9 o'clock--Rose fro shell explosions
Forced down in flames a two-seated Albatros at 908