AIRMAN SAVES THE GUNS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 63, 9 December 1918, Page 5

AIRMAN SAVES THE GUNS

(By "Whig Adjutant," in the "Dailv Mail.") The attack had developed rapidly and been uniformly successful. All along the line the enemy were in retreat, and British men and British guns hurried after them as they fled in disorder. The retreat had almost become a rout, and none knew where British territory ended and enemy country began. All was confusion. Above the battlefield the airmen were enjoying. themselves harrying the retreating Huns. Here and there two-seater machines flew low over the Germans, dropping bombs on the transport and on columns of men and oausing confusion among the horses. Pilots and observers leaned from' their machines : and' fired burst after burst of ammunition from their machine-guns into isolated groups of Huns. Prom their altitude of less than a hundred feet they could see the ground sprinkled with motionless bodies and the air thick with other aeroplanes. The pilot of ono particular machine flew along a retreating column of transport, dropping his bombs at intervals. Lorries overturned, those in the reaT ran into the cars in front of them, and tho road was torn with huge holes which made i* almost useless for mechanical transport. Then the machine turned and raced up and down the tangled mass, pilot and observer firing from their ma-chine-guns into the struggling men. At Inst, contont with the work, the pilot turned the aeroplane and departed for another place. As the observer peeled over the side he saw a group of men bnsilv employed in erecting something. He called the attention of the pilot, and thcv went closer to investigate matters. Their approach brought forth a storm of bullets, and as they drew off the observer saw that the place was a nest of machineguns, the men being placed there to ambush any of the advancing British fcroopn who outdistanced their follows. He communicated this news to tho pilot, and they prepared to attack tho Huns and remove the obstruction.'Then before they could get to work, 1 up the road, full gallop, camo a battary of field artillery, heading full tilt into the place of death. There wm no timo for the pilot to bomb the Boche positions or shoot down the German gunners. He pushed down the nose of his maclrfno and raced for the approaching battery. Plying low over their heads ho pressed tho button of his "Klaxon,"' and the raucous note Bounded in the air. The battery commander looked up and' paused. Thon, letter by letter, the "Klaxon" hooted out its message of warhing, and tho guns halted and got into position. The Huns saw that their ambush had failed, and opened fire from long range. They wore, however, too late. Directed by the airmen, tho guns got to work, and a fow minutes later tho battery gal-' loped on past soma ruined mnchine-fruns aud a pile ,of dead'and shattered Huns.