WAR- CHRONICLE

58
To-day we arrived at Valparaiso.
Beloved ones at home, keep healthy and happy. Here we have
still much work to do. A happy Christmas to you all and to you,
my dear father, the heartiest congratulations and best wishes for
your birthday.
Try not to think too much of your eldest son by degrees, but
do not forget him' altogether. With best love and gratitude, I send
you all my best and heartiest greetings
Your son and brother Albert,
Volunteer on Board S. M. S. "Nurnberg"
called the "Spectreship."
(Berliner Lohalanzeiger, 17 th December 1914.)
4. From the Air Fleet.
A Battle in the Air.
A Berlin author, who has been on service in France as an
aviator, since the beginning of the war, and who took part in the
air battle over A . in which 3 French aviators were forced to
descend, sends the following field post letter, with an account of
this battle, in which we were victorious, to his native country:—
We are still here in C where we have made ourselves
quite comfortable. The inhabitants of this little place are bearing
the German invasion tolerably well and we have everything we
need ; only a bottle of good German beer would sometimes be quite
welcome. During the last couple of weeks the weather has been
absolutely horrible, rain and fog, and for & change now and then
snow with squalls, so as to give us an opportunity of getting well
acquainted with sea-sickness. But in spite, of this we keep on'flying
and try to make life as disagreeable as possible for the French.
Recently we had an engagement with them in the air, which
will never be forgotten by all those who took part in it. Two
French battle-aeroplanes were shot down by us and another forced
tô descends This happened as follows:—
Lately the French aeroplanes, which have great respect for our
guns—but in spite of which I must give them credit for- great
pluck-—'Courageously ventured to fly over our lines. They came
oftener than we liked. Finally we organized a good guard station,
from were .we always received information in good time, when
hostile steel-birds were approaching. One day we were informed
that a squadron consisting of five machines was approaching forwards
A . . . . We at once got our aeroplanes ready to start. The
motors began whizzing,, in spite of the wet weather, and in intervals
,of half a minute our squadron started off under the leadership of