\u2018Report from \u2019Paix\u00a0\u00bb dated 9 May 1918<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The British paid their respects to the remains of the German \u2018ace\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From L’Echo de Paris:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funeral of Captain von Richthofen was held on Tuesday, 23 April. The body was transported a few kilometres behind the front line and laid to rest in one of the aircraft tents used in the makeshift camps, which were quickly moved elsewhere. In the middle of the tent, on crates covered with brown cloth, the body lay with its torso exposed, the doctors having undressed the aviator after his fall in order to try to treat him. The marks of the machine-gun wounds are visible. There are six of them, the largest below the right breast. The captain seems to be sleeping, but the harsh light coming through a single small door in the tent outlines the features of the dead man, highlighting and seeming to accentuate his Germanic appearance. A motorised trailer used to transport aeroplanes has just arrived. The canvas covering the tent is lifted. The coffin appears, painted black, with a large shiny aluminium plate nailed to it, on which the following inscription is engraved twice, in English and German:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cavalry Captain<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manfred, Baron von Richthofen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
25 years old<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Killed in action in aerial combat<\/p>\n\n\n\n
on 21 April 1918<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Six officers, pilots in the British Air Force, pass through the soldiers who are paying their respects and carry the coffin, on which five wreaths of immortelle flowers have been placed, to the van. These wreaths, sent by major British aviation centres, are tied with ribbons in the German colours and bear the inscription: \u2018To a valiant and worthy adversary\u2019. The van moves slowly forward, followed by soldiers marching with their rifles under their arms. Then come the six British air force officers and four French air force officers, who arrived here by air. Behind them, in groups of four, are about fifty British soldiers who have come to watch. About fifteen planes, flying low under the cloud-filled blue sky, escort the procession to the cemetery in a swirling pattern. There, a pastor says the prayers for the dead, then the coffin is lowered into the grave, at the edge of which the soldiers line up to fire a salute. Three times the crackle of gunfire pierced the air, to the steady rhythm of the engines still roaring above us and accompanied by the more distant and muffled sound of cannons firing on the front line. Captain von Richthofen’s military funeral was over.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","event-type":[],"source-language":[],"source-id-tax":[],"class_list":["post-16540","event","type-event","status-publish","hentry","entry","no-media"],"yoast_head":"\n