WAR

among the flying personnel assembled at Verdun as a result of General Petain's
directive was an ex-cavalryman named Jacques Leps, the son of a cavalryman,
an old-time professional soldier who commanded the First Hussars. At the
beginning of 1915, Leps had been transferred at his father's request from his own
unit, the Ninth Hussars, to the First, as consolation for the loss of another son,
Guy, killed by a bullet through the heart.
By the summer of 1915 all cavalry had become obsolete and Jacques Leps
was in the trenches before the fortlet of Beausejour. Perched upon the crest of a
crater he was surveying the German trenches when he perceived a party of German
infantry working at repairing their lines at a distance of about 300 metres.
He called several Hussars and standing on the high ground directed their fire
on the working party. Ignoring the fire of snipers, Leps continued to call the
shots for his own men until he was finally shot through the chest. There were
often Jesuits to be found where the battle was raging and an Abbe de Ruble
appeared and gave Leps absolution—and was himself killed on the spot. A
medic took one look at Leps and said, "He's done for."
With amazing vitality, Leps held on, however, and the incident became
known, creating something of a stir. General Grossetti, commander of the XVI
Corps, came to see him on his stretcher and said, "You deserve to be punished;
I will award you instead the Croix de Guerre with palm .
Removed to St. Etienne, he mended without complication in a short time,
and took advantage of his convalescence at the rear to obtain a transfer to the
air
service.
When Leps arrived at Verdun, he was assigned to N 67 with Navarre, and
began serving as observer for long-range reconnaissance. One day Navarre approached
Leps and asked him with a mysterious solemnity if he, Leps (who was
a good shot), would like to fly as gunner with him on board a new two-seat
fighter.
Leps accepted eagerly. Agreed: they would hunt together. Should they find
a Boche it would be easy. Navarre briefed Leps, "No matter what the aerobatics
of the German aeroplane may be, I will place you 15 metres below him and
you will have but to fire."
Leps has said since, "This was not mere boasting; he could really do it."
As it
happened, Leps never had the chance to go hunting with Navarre, but
he did go out in the new two-seat fighter Navarre had been talking about.
This particular machine, a Spad product designed by Becherau, who later
designed the Spad single-seaters, was so laid out that the pilot sat between the
wings and behind the engine while the gunner sat out in front of the engine. It was
a desperate solution to the problem of a front-firing gun. It was never popular
because it was not safe: if it came down too hard on the nose, the engine would
go through the gunner. Leps, however, was willing to try anything once—standing
up on the edge of no-man's-land and letting enemy snipers take pot shots at
him, or flying in the front seat of the Spad A. 2.
Leps and his alternate pilot took off to try out the new machine. They were
soon over the lines where they were promptly attacked by an enemy aeroplane.
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