Don
Martin diary entry for Wednesday, July 3, 1918:
Went to La Ferte – corps headquarters – and
to the air field near Touquin. Got a good story of fight between nine Americans
and nine Germans. We lost no one, Germans lost four. Cabled two stories to
New York. Waited for air raid tonight but
none came.
The
story of the air fight was published in the Paris Herald on July 4.
Nine New American Fliers, In Fight With Nine Enemy Machines, Bring Down Six
One of Amex Aviators
Has Eight Bullet-Holes in Craft After Safe Return of Expedition Against the
Germans Near Château-Thierry
(Special Telegram to the Paris Herald)
By Don Martin,
With The American Army, Wednesday
Nine American
aviators late on Tuesday had a combat with nine Germans in the vicinity of
Château-Thierry. It is certain that four of the German machines came down, none
in flames, but all badly disabled. The belief is that each of six of the
Americans has one German to his credit. This is of particular interest and
importance, because the German fliers in question are, or were, part of a
rejuvenated Richthofen circus. Of that the Americans who engaged them are sure.
The enemy machines were painted precisely as were those used by the original
members of the dangerous Richthofen group. The fuselages are black and the nose
and tail red.
Here are the
names of the six American fliers who were in the combat and who are believed to
have brought down an aeroplane each: --
Lieutenant Ralph A. O’Neill, of Nogales, Arizona; Lieutenant John H.
Stevens, of Albion, N.Y.; Lieutenant Kenneth L. Parker, of Dowagiac, Mich.;
Lieutenant Tyler C. Bronson, of New York City; Lieutenant Cleveland W.
McDermott, of Syracuse, N.Y.; Lieutenant Maxwell O. Perry, of Indianapolis,
Ind.
Most of the men were making one of
their first flights over enemy lines. They all returned. One had eight
bullet-holes in his machine. Lieutenant McDermott was for some time believed to
be lost, but after a trying experience he got back to safety. He was driven
more than twenty miles back of the German line, two Germans devoting their
attention to him. One wing of his plane was nearly shot off. He managed,
however, to maneuver himself out of the dangerous position and skimmed through
the air to a field on French-held territory.
The German fliers
were presumably making one of their first flights over the American-held
sector. They were seeking to destroy an American observation machine. A message
reporting the fact reached headquarters where the Americans were stopping. The
fliers were at dinner. In a jiffy they were on the run for the sheds and in a
very few minutes were whirring their way skyward to seek aerial adventure.
They arrived in
the nick of time. The Germans were flying at two levels, four rather low and
five very high. The Americans were flying in a similar formation. On the top
squadrons the Americans were higher than the Germans. The lower positions were
reversed. The Germans maneuvered with much skill and it was quickly apparent
that they had someone of experience to deal with. The Americans used all their
skill and unquestionably showed superiority over the Germans.
Today there were no Germans over the American line. It has been their
custom to fly around at varying heights. The Americans were on the watch today,
but found no one to give them battle.
Don
Martin wrote an expanded dispatch about the air battle, giving an earlier
report on the outcome. It was published in the New York Herald on July 4.
American aviators in twenty combats destroy seven of foe
Americans Superior in
Air
By Don Martin
Special
Correspondent of the Herald with the American Armies in France
[Special Cable to the Herald]
WITH THE
AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE, Wednesday
Enemy aviators, who have been
flying with impunity recently, came into contact with American flyers
yesterday. The result of this aerial engagement, of which I told briefly in my
despatch yesterday, is important. It had been a German habit to fly at all
times during the day on this sector and to make photographs wherever they
pleased. This was a great handicap to our forces and now the situation is quite
different.
German airmen and American flyers
were in an encounter on Monday. The battle in the air was a draw. They again
met yesterday in a spectacular aerial combat. There were nine German and eight
American machines. The result was that three of the German aircraft were sent
crashing to the earth in flames. Two of the American aviators have not
returned.
The combat occurred in the
Chateau-Thierry sector, where the Americans are flying a new French aeroplane
and are eager to do their share of the fighting. I saw them when they made
their start to engage the enemy airmen.
The knowledge that they were going
after an air unit whose organization and tactics were copied from Captain Baron
Max von Richthofen’s “Flying Circus,” and that this circus was out hunting
Americans only accentuated the keenness of our flyers for the start and the
attack. They went skyward in beautiful formation. They whirred and wheeled and
disappeared from view. It was but a short time, however, until they returned to
their field.
It is impossible for me to say at this time
just how many American flyers the French are supplying gladly with plenty of
aeroplanes for observation and pursuit. I can say, however, that they are
satisfactory to the American flyers, who are splendid youths and who, French
experts both in flying and judging flyers declare, give the Germans far more
than the enemy is sending.
I passed the day with these men.
They form a remarkable unit, for many of them are wealthy and not a few are
scions of prominent New York families. There are more than a score from other
cities as far West as the Pacific coast.
They realize that every time they
ascend it is like a man pacing the steps of a duelling ground, but they are the
happiest lot in the world. When one of their members fails to return to his
comrades, they say:---
“He’s all right somewhere. He had a run for
his money, anyway.”
Lieutenant William J. Hoover, of
Hartsville, S. C.; Lieutenant Alfred A. Grant, of Denton, Texas, and Lieutenant
John McArthur, of Buffalo, N. Y., who were victorious over the Germans
yesterday, are new men in this unit but they are skilful flyers.
The skilful exploits of American
aviators in the Toul sector, where Lieutenant Douglas Campbell, Lieutenant Edward
Rickenbacker and Captain David M.K. Peterson won laurels, and where James N.
Hall and Major Raoul Lufbery fell, one a prisoner and the other the victim of
an enemy, after spectacular clashes, are expected quickly to be equalled by the
records of American flyers here. Their presence is a boon to the troops who in
Monday’s battle at Vaux saw the value of air supremacy.
Don Martin’s follow-up report of July
2 on the Vaux battle was published in the Paris Herald on July 3.
500 Prisoners, 60 Machine-Guns, Regiment
Annihilated, is Cost To Germans in the Vaux Fight
By DON MARTIN.
It is now stated that the Americans
captured at least 500 Germans in the fighting at Vaux and the neighboring
region on Monday. They also took 60 machine-guns and several trench mortars.
The Germans started a counter-attack with one regiment, but it was caught between
a fierce barrage and a rain of machine-gun fire in front and practically annihilated.
The German prisoners say in Vaux they were caught in their dugouts and cellars
like rats in a trap by the American artillery fire. The later details of the
battle show that the operation, though small by comparison, was easily one of
the most successful of many months on any front.
Don Martin wrote a final report on the Vaux
battle on July 3, which was published in the Paris Herald July 4.
Village of Vaux In Ruins After Artillery Fire
(SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE HERALD.)
By DON MARTIN.
WITH THE
AMERICAN ARMIES, Wednesday. [July 3]
The latest returns from the recent
fighting in the vicinity of Vaux show that the Americans captured six heavy machine-guns,
18 light machine-guns, 1 motorcycle gun, six trench mortars, 200 rifles and a
large quantity of ammunition.
Visitors to Vaux, which was
shelled by the Americans on Monday and afterward captured, with heavy losses to
the Germans, say that the village is a complete ruin. Not a single building is
standing, and only a few walls. The artillery fire directed into it almost literally
wiped this village of 600 inhabitants off the earth. The wonder is that anyone
was able to 1ive, even in the cellars, during the terrific hammering given by
the American guns.
Many of the prisoners taken,
however, were found crouched in cellars, so frightened in many instances that
they had hardly the strength or nerve even to shout "Kamerad," which
is the real test of German endurance.
Examination of the areas south of
the village furnishes further proof of the effectiveness and efficiency of
American artillery. A creeping barrage was thrown upon these areas in a sort of
crescent formation. Over a stretch of ground a half-mile nearly in depth there are
torn grooves in the earth, showing that the shells fell about equal distances apart
and that the spaces between the succeeding waves of fire were identical.
The Germans are entrenched within sight
of the village, but they have been extremely quiet during the last twelve hours.
The last shelling given them by the big guns, which took so heavy a toll from
them in the Monday engagement, apparently worried them.
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