WAR

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attalions to hold out until direct contact could be re-established. The first organized enemy attack began, and in a few hours Whittlesey's men suffered 50 per cent casualties. The survivors did not sleep that night, but lay huddled and cold waiting and watching. In the morning the enemy fire began again. The New York editor who received the short story about the trapped Americans sent back to the correspondent at 77th Division headquarters for more details on the "Lost Battalion" and played it up as a human interest story. Like many catch-words it was a little bit wrong but was chosen because it was easy to say. It was actually not a question of one "lost" battalion, but two; and they were not lost, geographically speaking. They knew where they were. The confusion lay with the rest of the Americans who were trying to find them. On October 4 the 50th Aero tried to supply Whittlesey and his men by air drop. They flew over the area but could not spot any Americans, who were naturally lying low. The 50th crews kept trying to find the men, but without luck. The suspense continued through the next day. On October 6 the squadron flew a series of missions during which the aeroplanes flew so low that two of them were shot down and a third came home with a badly wounded pilot. Lieutenants Goettler, pilot, and Bleckley, observer, had made a number of trips without getting wounded but without finding the Americans either. They had made passes at 500 feet, then at 200. At 200 feet they were flying through the ravine, and the German soldiers on the high ground were firing down on them with rifles, machine 50th Aero Squadron. guns and pistols. Goettler and Bleckley volunteered to make one more try. They would find the Americans by process of elimination. They would fly so low that they would draw the fire of the Germans on the floor of the ravine who had hitherto held their fire so as to avoid revealing their positions. It was a dangerous method, but it worked. And that is why Lieutenants Goettler and Bleckley of the 50th Aero Squadron, U.S.A.S., were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. That evening the trapped Americans, and the Germans surrounding them, saw the big two-seater with the "Dutch Girl" insignia on the fuselage skim the trees and drop into the ravine. The Germans opened up with everything they had and the D.H. plowed through a curtain of fire. At the end of the ravine the machine zoomed, turned, and came back. Both men were hit many times and the D.H. itself was shot up so badly that tatters of fabric were streaming back in the slip stream, the engine was misfiring, and pieces were flying off. Bleckley slumped down in the rear cockpit and Goettler struggled weakly to get the nose up to clear the trees at the end of the ravine. The D.H. lurched up and over the obstacle and dropped heavily into the French front lines. Goettler was dead; Bleckley pressed the map into the hands of a French officer and then he too was dead. Clearly outlined on the bloody map was the one spot where there had been no ground fire, the one spot where the "Lost Battalion" had to be. The next day a hastily organized expedition broke through and brought out the survivors. 180
Rickenbackei eddie rickenbacker's operational career was interrupted by a troublesome mastoid condition. Shortly after his promotion to Captain came through in the middle of June he was hospitalized and didn't get back to the Front until the end of July. On September 25 he assumed command of the 94th. Rickenbacker was, and is, a competitive man. He wanted his squadron to be the best in the U.S. Air Service, and to do that he knew that every man had to be on his toes. He wanted precise reports from the ground crew on all aeroplanes that were not in flyable condition and if the reports did not coincide with his opinions it was tough on the mechanics. Rickenbacker could listen to an engine and tell you what was wrong with it. To the pilots he preached team tactics— it didn't matter who got the credit so long as the 94th had high score. The victory scores of rival squadrons were posted to keep the men informed of what was expected of them. This was his way, and it worked. He made the squadron click like a professional team. On his first day as CO., however, he achieved his outstanding success not as a member of the team, but on a voluntary solo patrol. The action 181
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*»&%gp&iiqfc THE MEN AND MACHINES
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Hanriot H-D 1 • France (here in B
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Photograph by Beverly Lebarrow
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COPYRIGHT © 1965 BY THOMAS R. FUND
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In acknowledging the help he has re
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the great war, as every schoolboy k
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perseverance have been beyond all p
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: ; o COLOGNE MAP Showing the Salie
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"A EUROPEAN WAR" "Never before the
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an American, Charles J. Biddle, of
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From 1300 metres the country is spr
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Pegoud
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In the autumn of 1913 Pegoud gave a
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In layout the new monoplane somewha
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Aviatik B I
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— — grudziadz is a town on the
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Stationed in home country near Bres
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Roland Garros *«« . •—;-*.;-
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twins jean and Pierre navarre were
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One day on a reconnaissance flight
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Pilot and observer/gunner in Halber
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in February of 1915 Roland Garros r
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so became enthusiastic about flying
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them disappeared in the direction o
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one of navarre's closest friends wa
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— CO. condemning the ship the men
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iefed their mechanics and packed th
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although Kriegszeitung stated expli
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ehind the British lines near Arras
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Boelckc returned to Douai in Decemb
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artillery-spotting that they didn't
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an American ace who flew in British
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The same day two other men from the
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observer seized his Parabellum and
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"THE INEVITABLE RESULT" "As I have
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21, 1916, the German Fifth Army beg
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— — * * * since the Germans hel
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among the flying personnel assemble
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on june 17, 1916, Navarre, Pivolo,
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— hnmelmann On June 18, 1916, obs
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en route to verdun the end of Febru
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5- 3 a*i& rT& A striking demonstrat
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late in 1915 the Halberstadt Aeropl
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Seven such units were initially pro
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the quality of disinterestedness wi
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The results were uniformly nil, but
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11,000 and about 7 p.m. saw a hosti
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British machines reached their obje
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y January 1917 von Richthofen had a
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During the summer of 1916, two Nieu
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Ball was awarded the M.C. for his e
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from the beginning of 1917 a warnin
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. The aeroplane he had destroyed wa
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Bristol F.2 "Brisfit." 99
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On this day he had just taken off w
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The Sopwith Triplane appeared in sm
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Naval Ten was formed in February 19
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It would appear that the raid was a
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1 "Collishaw led a (second) offensi
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fast as the three machines spun aro
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— Hermann becker was born in Treb
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gilbert sardier of Clermont-Ferrand
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— the storks— Groupe de Combat
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no. 20 squadron rfc was a two-seate
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122
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on the last day of July 1917, the T
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the last instant he would tilt his
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a powerful one, but that hardly mat
Page 150 and 151: in august 1917 Naval Ten switched f
Page 152 and 153: I "The Germans kept shooting at me
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Page 156 and 157: Commandant Brocard. 136
Page 158 and 159: Fonck was the best shot at the Fron
Page 161 and 162: "THE SUPREMACY OF THE AIR" "Despite
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Page 165 and 166: albert deullin was born in Epernay,
Page 167 and 168: tion, full motor and diving slightl
Page 169 and 170: Pfalz D III In the summer and autum
Page 171 and 172: was of the semi-monocoque method, i
Page 173 and 174: Nodding, von Richthofen turned to g
Page 175 and 176: when the battle of cambrai opened,
Page 177 and 178: Cerisy, a hamlet on the left bank o
Page 179 and 180: As the two machines ahead of him zi
Page 181 and 182: "Balloon strafing became highly dev
Page 183 and 184: eed Mckinley chambers was born at O
Page 185 and 186: On March 29, James Norman Hall arri
Page 187 and 188: Lufbery. Assuming command of the 94
Page 189 and 190: IN February 1918 Oberleutnant Adolf
Page 191 and 192: y the end of May both Douglas Campb
Page 193 and 194: — Brigadier General Everett R. Co
Page 195 and 196: Biddle.
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Page 199: of the 95 Congressional Medals of H
Page 203 and 204: when hellmuth von zastrow began fly
Page 205 and 206: In August 1917 Theobald was posted
Page 207 and 208: — On October 1, 1917, at five o'c
Page 209 and 210: Sam, over two feet tall and acquire
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Page 214: A dispatch from the Wolff Telegraph
Page 217 and 218: Gibbons, Floyd, The Red Knight of G
Page 219 and 220: 43,53, : : : Frantz: ix, 13, 15,26
Page 222 and 223: Spad 13 • France (here in Italian
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WAR

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