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i66 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
hazel shrub. A little further on a dressing station had been
rigged up in the middle of the wood. The white flags with
the red cross could just be seen through the fohage. Similar
precautions had been taken for the protection of a number
of kitchen wagons.
The French aviators were out daily between 5 and 6 p.m.
They—like the corresponding German air scouts—have a
double mission, consisting partly in damaging in a military
sense, by means of bombs, the more delicate parts of the
opposing mechanism, and partly in observing the transfer and
grouping of troops, but especially of artillery positions, on
the part of the enemy. The bridge across La Dormoise at
Autry had been the victim of a bomb attack a couple of days
previously, resulting in injuries to a couple of men, but leaving
the bridge undamaged. At another point in our vicinity a
soldier was struck by one of those horrible steel arrows which
the airmen let fall from a height of 2500 metres and which
pass right through a horse or bury themselves in the ground
after having struck a man on the head. They travel at the
speed of a rifle bullet, but weigh more. At Grandpré, a captain
was killed a few days ago by one of these arrows, and twenty-
seven men were injured by a bomb from the same aeroplane.
The previous week the Germans were just in the act of putting
the last touches to a repaired railway line running through
a little town in the neighbourhood, which was to become the
rail-head. The French were at once informed through their
aviators of what was going on. Three bombs were thrown,
which burst close to the station building, but no damage
was done. The airman was immediately fired on from an
anti-aircraft gun, also without effect. The incident showed
however how well prepared one must be for everything. At
some points in Germany there is a constant watch for enemy
aviators. If one comes soaring along over a fortified town at
night-time, several searchlights are concentrated on him, he
is blinded by the light and loses his bearings altogether, whilst
from the nearest church tower he is pelted by the fire from
machine guns, which pour a rain of bullets on him.
The aviator uses various methods of keeping in touch
with his own side. This presumably is partly effected by direct
signals, such as flags or electric torches, the light from which
can be discerned from the ground through field-glasses. If an
airman has seen, or thinks he has reason to suspect the presence
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