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Event ID: 648

Categories: 

Ein Heldenleben, Ullstein & Co, 1920

15 April 1917

50.329872275934086, 3.144518810662833
Roucourt

Source ID: 55

Ein Heldenleben, Ullstein & Co, 1920 p.  206 

“Over time, you end up on many fronts. What I am about to tell you took place at Cambrai. In beautiful weather, my brother and I flew alone to the front. Explosions can be seen in the north. As we approach, a single Englishman is fleeing across the front. Otherwise, there is nothing to be seen for the time being. We fly over the English lines without being fired upon. There is an easterly wind, which is very unfavourable for air combat, as the wind carries you far off course during battle. The single-seater only has an advantage in attack. This is due to its armament. If you are blown far into enemy territory by the wind during air combat, there will come a moment when you have to fly back, i.e. go on the defensive. For a single-seater, which can only shoot forward, this is a very fatal moment, which has already proved disastrous for many! Suddenly, my brother and I see five English single-seaters swooping down on us from a great height. I have never had the same feeling of superiority when flying with others as I do when flying with my brother. This time is no different. The five lords don’t dare to approach us for the time being, but remain above us and practise their shooting on the two German aircraft. Now one of them becomes a little bolder and swoops down on me. Quick turn! I’m already behind him. The attacker becomes the pursued. The Englishman tries to escape to the west in his fast machine. By constantly zigzagging, he offers me no sure target. He no longer manages to defend himself. The occupant seems to me to be already wounded. The Englishman is already ‘stinking’, an aviator’s expression for the smoke trail from a shot-through petrol or oil tank. Just as I am about to finish off the Englishman, my gun jams. Deeply saddened, I leave him alone and turn back. In the course of the battle, I have strayed many kilometres from our front line. Suddenly, a terrible thought occurs to me: where are the other four Englishmen, and where has my brother gone? Then I see a gruesomely beautiful sight! In a fierce battle, the four Englishmen and my brother are circling each other! My heart almost stops with fear for Manfred: my gun is jammed and I can’t shoot anymore! It doesn’t matter, help is needed here! My brother has been keeping the four Englishmen, who had long since cut me off, busy so that none of them could follow me! Now it’s my turn to help. I burst into the middle of the fighting. The four Englishmen, who until then had only had one opponent in front of them, suddenly left us alone and flew home, even though they were still twice as many. They couldn’t have known that I had a jammed gun. As my brother said afterwards, he had given everything for both our lives.”

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