CHAPTER XXX

RUSSIAN PRAISE AND RUSSIAN ACHIEVEMENTS

The Russians have been most generous in their praise of the work done by the Allied aviators in France. A correspondent of the _Bourse Gazette_, writing in the _Daily Chronicle_, has said: ‘One need only stay at the British front one single day to be convinced that the verdict is right. The Allied aviators dominate the air. This is a phrase no longer. It is as much a reality as the British Battle Fleet or the Allied artillery. The Allied aeroplanes are everywhere. They guide and direct the artillery fire, make bold reconnaissances, photograph the enemy positions before and after the bombardments, fill the enemy trenches with grenades, and combine with the infantry to attack the German fortifications. During the first two months of the Somme offensive the British aviators covered more than 100,000 miles in the air, and that in spite of the fact that for a whole fortnight there was no flying at all because of the heavy mist and rain. According to careful military statistics, the British airmen covered not less than 1,000,000 miles over the German lines in the first two years of war.’

The correspondent of the _Bourse Gazette_ goes on to remark that the history of the struggle for mastery in the air is very instructive. ‘At the beginning of the war the supremacy in aviation undoubtedly belonged to the British and the French. But during the first year of the war the Germans, availing themselves of their superior industrial organization, went ahead of the Allies. For a brief period German aviation surpassed not only the British and French aviation separately, but both combined. That period coincides with the appearance of the Fokkers and the activity of Immelmann and other prominent German pilots.’

But the Germans, as we have seen, could not maintain their superiority. Towards the end of the second year, the supremacy passed to the Allies once more. By the quantity and quality of their machines, as well as by the quantity and quality of their pilots, the British and French now so much surpass the Germans that at present one can speak of the absolute superiority of the Allied aviators.

‘The Allied aviation,’ the writer in point continues, ‘is divided into three separate branches or three kinds of fighting—the attacking battle-squadron, something like aerial cavalry; the scouts, rather like aerial infantry; and a division of aerial photographers. The pilots of the aerial battle-squadron are the real fighters of the air. Most of them are young. And the lives of all of them are filled with unprecedented adventures.’

Of all branches of aviation, however, the most important in the estimate of the writer of the article is that of photographing from an aeroplane: ‘Before the bombardment of any enemy position, the head quarters make a detailed map, drawn up from photographs taken from the aeroplanes. Then, while the bombardment is in progress, the aviators continue to take photographs of the position at fixed intervals. The bombardment continues until the photographs taken by the aviators show them all the _points d’appui_ of the positions have been demolished. I saw these photographs and the maps of the German positions prepared from them. The making of these photographic maps is one of the greatest technical miracles of the present war. But its realization demands indomitable courage and sang-froid. Photographing the enemy positions is at once the most ingenious and the most dangerous of aerial operations. The aviator-photographer having risen to a great height above the enemy position, settles his aeroplane almost vertically above the position he is going to photograph. Descending a certain distance, he arranges his camera, takes his photograph of the German defences, and at once climbs up at top speed in order to regain his own lines. One can imagine with what a fire the Germans meet their uninvited visitor. All the while his dizzy manœuvres over the German positions are going on, he has to face the fire of anti-aircraft guns, machine-guns, and rifles.

‘As I stood on a hill,’ the writer of the article continues, ‘I noticed a tiny spot in the sky far above the German lines, around which small white clouds exploded. I asked my officer-companion if this was a fight between aeroplanes in the air. “No,” he said, “it’s our man photographing the German positions, and the Germans are firing at him from their trenches....”

‘All day long the British aviators rushed through the air. At certain moments, when they closed together, I could count up to thirty aeroplanes. From below they appeared like a flight of some mighty birds. Several of them evidently formed an aerial patrol. They circled round the kite balloons. The others flew away, singly or in groups, to the line of the German trenches. During the whole day only one single German aeroplane flew over the British lines and tried to attack a kite balloon. But it was driven off by the aerial patrol.’

As regards the praiseworthy work done by Russian aviators, it is noteworthy that on September 14, 1916, a squadron of four Russian giant aeroplanes of the Slyr-Murometz type bombarded the German seaplane station on Lake Angern, in the Gulf of Riga. Seventeen seaplanes of various sizes and models were discerned. The Russians dropped seventy-three bombs, of a total weight of sixty-two poods (about one ton). The sheds were soon concealed in smoke and flames. Eight enemy seaplanes attacked the Russian machines, but were speedily put to flight by machine-gun fire. As the result of the bombing and the air fight not fewer than eight enemy machines were destroyed or put out of action. The Russians returned safely, notwithstanding a hail of incendiary shells from anti-aircraft guns. On a previous occasion one Slyr-Murometz and one Ilya-Murometz, with a crew of five, routed seven attacking German seaplanes.

On the twenty-ninth of the same month Russian aviators carried out a raid on the rear of the enemy’s cantonments in the Bourgunt Krevo district (about forty-five miles south-east of Vilna). The bombs dropped caused explosions and fires in the enemy’s depots at various points. Bombs were also dropped on convoys, a narrow-gauge railway, and on wagons. In the course of the raid there was an air fight in which four German machines were brought down.

Russian airmen who call for special mention are Sub-Lieutenant Orloff, Lieutenant Gorkovenko, Captain Kayakoff, Captain Schifkoff, and Midshipman Safonoff. Captain Schifkoff in particular has many aerial victories to his credit.