Report by war correspondent Dr. Max Osborn
Event ID: 658
27 April 1918
Source ID: 55
‘How Richthofen fell. Dr. Max Osborn in the ’B. Z.Am Mittag”
Report by war correspondent Dr. Max Osborn
(From the ‘B. Z. am Mittag’ of 27 April 1918)
On the Somme, 24 April 1918
By chance, I found myself today on the battlefield east of Amiens, at the spot where three days earlier Captain Manfred von Richthofen was torn from glory and life and from the circle of his closest comrades. The front is engaged in fierce fighting here, and even the death of one of the most popular heroes the war has given us cannot bring the great machinery to a standstill for a moment, but the disappearance of this brilliant figure, the passing of this celebrated, chivalrous, lovable man, is deeply mourned by everyone
despite the tension of the heavy struggle. From what I have heard, particularly from those who participated in Richthofen’s last war flight, the events, the tragic outcome of which is not yet fully clear, unfolded as follows:
On Sunday, 21 April, at half past eleven in the morning, the cavalry captain flew with four gentlemen from his squadron, including his cousin, who had only recently joined the famous Squadron 11 and was flying more for practice, from the east towards the airspace above the front German line. At the relatively low altitude of 1,500 metres, due to hazy conditions, they soon encountered seven English Camel aircraft, while seven more enemy aircraft became visible at a considerably higher altitude. The German fighter pilots immediately engaged in fierce aerial combat with the first seven. First Lieutenant K. and Lieutenant W. attacked several English aircraft. Suddenly, they saw Richthofen’s red triplane swooping in from the side, launching a powerful attack on these opponents. In his familiar irresistible manner, the cavalry captain seized a Camel, which immediately seemed to be hit by a hail of machine-gun fire and crashed almost vertically. The strong east wind that blew on Sunday afternoon had driven the entire fighting force westward from the line of positions and over enemy territory, first to the vicinity of Hamelet, then over the marshy Somme bend near Corbie. The younger Germans saw how the Englishman pulled himself together once more and how Richthofen pressed him again. Now Lieutenant W. attacked a new opponent. He succeeded in destroying the enemy, who crashed south of Hamelet; it was the ninth aircraft he had shot down. He immediately looked for the cavalry captain, who was flying as the leader of the group, and noticed that the red triplane had followed his opponent further west. That struck him. However, he was unable to observe the course of events any longer, as he launched another attack. The others were also busy with the English aircraft that were still facing them. After they had been shooting at each other for a while, the battle broke up and the Germans, unable to find their leader, flew alone to their airfield.
They arrived without Richthofen. Already concerned about his fate, but still hoping that the experienced pilot would follow them. But they waited in vain. Meanwhile, observers on the heights near Hamel had clearly seen that the Englishman Richthofen had caught had crashed to the ground, completely destroyed, after the German had pushed him down two hundred metres. Then they saw Richthofen himself lift his aircraft, presumably to turn away and fly home as well, but then suddenly
dive downwards. Nevertheless, as the observers could clearly see, the red triplane managed to land smoothly. This happened at the height just northwest of Corbie, already beyond the Anere, which flows into the Somme here. The comrades had to assume that Richthofen had survived and been captured. Only the Reuter telegram showed them the sad truth. How to interpret the context still seemed unclear to them. It is possible that Richthofen’s engine was overworked during the chase and pursuit of his opponent, causing it to stall and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing, and that while gliding in a straight line, he was fatally hit by a machine gun shot from the ground, which may have been fired from a very short distance. It is also possible that the cavalry captain was hit from below during the described attempt to turn away and fly home. In both cases, the doomed man must have steered his aircraft with extreme energy so that he still managed to make a smooth landing.
One thing is certain: in actual aerial combat, the master was not defeated. Neither behind him nor above him was an enemy aircraft to be seen during the decisive period. The last victories The Englishman whom Richthofen shot down immediately before his death was the eighty-first opponent he defeated. That is to say, the eighty-first counted according to the strict rules we apply. The officers of his squadron believe that the number would increase considerably if one were to add the certainly not insignificant number of those who, defeated by Richthofen, crashed too far behind enemy lines for us to be able to confirm their downfall with certainty. They also said that when others fired at an enemy aircraft at the same time as him and it crashed, Richthofen always personally stepped aside in favour of his competitors, a custom they praised as a fine example of selfless and generous camaraderie. Richthofen had shot down his seventy-ninth
and eightieth opponents the previous evening, on 20 April at seven o’clock between Warfusée-Abancourt and Villers-Bretonneux, both in the same air battle, one immediately after the other, within two minutes. He had already announced that he hoped to reach number eighty with such a double victory and was extremely pleased that he had indeed succeeded. On his way back after this double victory on the 20th, he had flown low and greeted columns marching on the road. The red aircraft was all the better known to all the fighters on the ground because Richthofen was particularly eager to attack the enemy aircraft that were harassing our troops and was therefore generally revered by our infantrymen.
Today, on 24 April, Cavalry Captain von Richthofen wanted to go on leave. He wanted to fly to Freiburg with Lieutenant W., from there to the Black Forest for a few days to watch the capercaillie mating ritual, and then carry out an official assignment in his home country. The two pilots had
already worked out the route they wanted to take. In case of bad weather, the journey was to be made by train. The tickets were already ready, just in case. Now one of Richthofen’s comrades had to fly to Kortrijk to bring the sad news to the father of the fallen soldier. His friends, subordinates and students had considered the hero invincible; they firmly believed that no harm could come to him. The rest of us were more likely to think that the tireless man could one day fall on the battlefield. The love and admiration that carried him now goes to the proud memory of a fighter who fell after achieving the unsurpassable for his fatherland, whose name was almost surrounded by the glimmer of a fairy tale and who, like the favourite heroes of ancient legends, was cast down into the shadows by envious fate in the prime of his youth.”
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