BOMBS ON A HUN TOWN.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1918, Page 5

BOMBS ON A HUN TOWN.

By Captain Paul Bewslier, D.S.C.. RA.I', "j A great city, ablaze with lights, moved slowly by on the left. High ; amid the stars swam a silver moon, '3 lighting the fields and farms and trees i and throwing a strong enough ligjht in -J the giant bombing machine to render the use of a torch unnecessary when thS '-ji observer wished to look at a map. ; For an hour and a half they had been flying steadily onwards over WMVSJ 's country. Long ago tihe ibelt of dark- •"« liess had been left, behind, and now 1 every little village had its cluster of ? lights. ■ J The engines roared faithfully. the 3 counhvy unrolled below them dike A ' large map. The villagers, hearing a ? drone high in the nig f lit, thought th#t (a some German airsliip was returning Ijome. At length far ahead of them they' saw through the faint haze of Uto '4 horizon the glittering silver stlreak Of fj a river. They were nearing their oto- v; jective. Across that river lay a great railway bridge, and on either side' for 6ft ■miles there was no means lor passing. J troops. If that bridge was destroyed the enemy's communications for a bun- « dred miles would be cut. 3

. Their job was to cut it. In the great ] -machine were a dozen heavy bombs. The is pilot and observer looked forward eagerly to the great river which drew , nearer and nearer to them. The eense 1 i of re.sponsiility weighed heavily on A tliem. They had travelled many long \i miles to do a very difficult task. Soon j they could see the twinkling lights of ' the city which lay near the bridge. To« "• gether they , identified every littlft : stream, every road, every forest,. and every railway line by their map that »; there be no doubt that it was the ; right place. When they were decided '■ they flew over the town and the bridge to have a good look at them. As SOO& - as they were familiarised with the surroundings they drew away a little ill oi'der to ihave a clear, straight run foe the bridge, and then began to fly slow- ; ly towards it. ■ The observer's concentration, wm itt* 1 tense, for he knew that on him lay th# • success of an operation of vital importance to the western front—an operation i which, if successful, would bring WlB( « and his squadron great credit. " He gave the pilot one final i caugfat hold of the bomb handle with ; hi 3 right hand, and pushed it ekurly ; forward. Again and again he pressed ; it till he know the bombs were iuLgonSk ,'s and then climbed on to his seat wadde 1 the pilot, who was looking over tito other side in Ms excitement. The observer looked over the other side, too, with intent eyes, absolutely tense with excitement. Suddenly on the bridge were two tre - j mendous bursts of flame, which left great ! clouds of smoke. The other bomb? burst across the river bank, but the men had no eyes for them, for with hearts almost bursting with joy they were shouting mutual congratulation*. ■ Looking bae'e along the tail thCT i, could see the muffled figure of the back, gun-layer, clear-cut in the moonligMp with his two thumbs pointing upwards in a familiar and expressive gesture.«l. i{ " success. _ , . .''4 They had done the job. '