1918 We will remember them (24 page)

The messages from the French were appreciative. We had stopped the bombers getting through.  All of them had been destroyed. This would be the last throw of the dice for the Germans and they were throwing all that they had at the Americans and the French.

We went up again the next day and this time we were joined by SE 5s and Spad VIII flown by Americans. This was the largest force we had flown with. We encompassed a large part of the battlefield. Our task was to knock out any German aeroplanes and then ground attack. That July morning was an air battle! A whole Jasta came to sweep us from the air. There were well over fifty German aeroplanes of varying types. The three allied squadrons each adopted different formations while the Germans relied on their line abreast.  That difference was to prove crucial.

Once a battle in the air begins it becomes small. A pilot sees the enemy before him and his comrades in his mirror.  I had no idea how the Americans and the SE 5s fought that day.  I did not know what had happened to my squadron until we landed.  We just flew, fought and, in some cases died.  When we ran out of fuel we returned home. It was a very personal battle.

We were on the extreme right of the line while the Americans were on the right. We had begun to climb as soon as we saw the Germans but the Americans were new to this deadly battle in the air and were slower to rise. Our climb and the Germans coincided so that we reached ten thousand feet at the same time. Once again Freddie and I were the centre of our line and we both fired at the same time.  We were a hundred yards from the enemy.  It was a longer range than we normally used but there were so many German aeroplanes that I thought we might get lucky and hit some in the rear.  Wally fired a moment after I did. We both hit the struts and the wings of the Fokker. I threw my Camel on to its side and the manoeuvre threw off the aim of the German pilot.  His bullets hit the space where my wings had been a moment earlier. I banked slightly and fired from a range of just forty feet as he sped by. My bullets punched a hole in his fuselage.  I straightened up.  The next German’s bullets zoomed over my head and, in my mirror, I saw them strike the undercarriage of Wally’s bus. I fired a long burst as we closed with each other.  The tracer showed me that I was hitting him and he flew into my bullets.  Smoke came from his engine as Wally added to my fire.

Suddenly there was empty sky before me.  I banked to my right and watched as my four pilots attempted to follow me. Jack’s Camel was riddled by the fire of three Germans but I saw no smoke and we were through. We were behind the Germans who were trying to get to the larger formation of SE 5s. I could not see Freddie but I guessed that he was engaged with his own personal battle.

There were five Fokker triplanes.  They were holding their line well. Our speed had taken them by surprise and they must have thought that the air to their starboard side was occupied by the D.VII we had just attacked.  Whatever the reason we had a clear shot.  I flew obliquely across them so that all five of us could fire at each one in turn. That one attack in July 1918 resulted in more kills for my flight than any other day of the war.

I opened fired and just held down the triggers.  The Fokkers tried to dive away from the barrage of bullets but we could out dive them. As I came behind the last Fokker on the extreme left of the five I followed him down. He twisted and turned but to no avail.  I stopped firing only when my ammunition ran out. I had begun to think that the pilot had a charmed life when I saw the ground approaching rapidly.  I pulled the nose up.  The concussion from the crashing Fokker lifted me into the air and I headed west.

Below me I saw the storm troopers running into the brick wall that was the American defenders of the wood close to Soissons.  The Americans had not tasted defeat and had not retreated almost to the sea as we had.  They had stood firm. I waggled my wings as I passed over them.

Having fired my bullets so quickly I was the first one back and I filled my pipe as I anxiously awaited the return of my boys. All four appeared but Jack’s had smoke coming from his engine and I remembered that Wally had had his undercarriage hit.

“Senior Flight Sergeant Lowery, Mr Grey has had damage to his undercarriage.  He may need some help!”

“Sir! Right you lot, get ready. We might have to get the young officer out in a hurry!”

I saw them watching for Wally’s bus as the four of them touched down. As we had feared the damage meant that the wheels collapsed as it hit the ground. The nose dipped alarmingly and I feared that the Camel would cartwheel but, instead the tail dug into the ground and it slewed and spun across the field.  It made a giant fairy circle in the grass. The mechanics were close enough to race and pull the pilot from the wreckage before it exploded.  Fortunately it did not and I could afford a smile.  That day had been a good one.  We had lost no pilots!

Ted had lost one pilot. Paul Ferry had been with us for some time and I had begun to hope that he might survive the war. We had lost almost a quarter of our pilots in the last month. That was the last time we went aloft in what became known as the Spring Offensive.  The German High Command had gambled and lost. Not only had they lost many of their elite ground troops they had also lost the initiative in the air.  We had knocked out many of their new fighters and a lack of fuel would restrict their flights until the end of the war. It was the middle of July and we had held the German war machine. August would bring a huge change both in our tactics and our lives.

It was lucky that we were not required the next day for we could only field four serviceable aeroplanes. The ground crews worked around the clock to repair them. We were told that the replacement Camels and pilots would arrive by the first week in August. It should have been a pleasant time.  The weather was fine and we had no enemies to fight.  The SE 5 squadron took over the patrols and they saw no one in the air. The Germans were licking their wounds and, like us, awaiting replacements.

Freddie took the lull to tell Fox of his situation. He did not take it well. The last month had seen a change in him but after Freddie told him the young man stormed off.  He was like a petulant child. Freddie was quite upset.  “I hope I did the right thing sir. I mean, perhaps I shouldn’t have told him.”

“He was bound to find out sooner or later.  I’ll have a word with him.” Freddie looked at me questioningly. “I am going to be a dad too.” I shrugged, “Perhaps it can be a bridge.  It is worth a try.  The alternative is to relieve him of duty and he is too good a pilot to lose.”

I knew where he would be.  The tendril of smoke gave him away. As I walked up to him I shook my head. “You can’t just keep running away can you, Jamie?”

“But my wife is going to have a child and I cannot be with her!”

“And Captain Hewitt was over here when his child was born. In case you didn’t know, Jamie, my wife is expecting and I haven’t seen her since February. There is a war on and we all have to make sacrifices.” He took the stub of his cigarette and ground it into the soil. “You may not like her mother and father but she is safe there is she not?” He nodded.  “And you could do nothing even if you were there.  I am in the same boat. I daresay that by the time I get my next leave my child may be months old.”

His shoulders slumped, “You are right, sir.”

“Come on let us get back to the field. I cannot believe that they will leave us inactive for too long. We shall have new pilots coming soon, Jamie, and they will look to you for help and advice. Do for them what others did for you eh?”

“Yes sir.”

We were given less than three days to recover and then we were sent with a flight of Bristols to photograph the German lines. It did not take a genius to work out that the brass were looking at the weaknesses.  There would be an offensive. It turned out to be an easy patrol.  The Germans came nowhere near us.  Although we were a depleted squadron the Germans had come to respect our Camels. As we flew high over the Somme I could see the weaknesses for myself. The Germans had salients. The straight lines they had left to advance were now bulges in our lines.  With the extra troops from America and the reinforcements who had joined us from the Middle East we were now in the position of the Germans when the Russians had made peace. Because we were not disturbed the Bristols managed to photograph the whole sector.

Archie had not flown with us.  His Camel had required an engine replacement. We sat in his office and showed him what we had seen.  “Then it looks like this will be a short holiday for us.” He looked at the four of us.  “I wish I had let you four go on leave when it was quiet.  I can’t see us having time for leave any time in the near future.”

I shrugged, “If it brings this war to a close then I am willing to make the sacrifice.”

Gordy shook his head, “My child is growing up and I am not there.”

Archie stood and poured him a whisky. “Laddie I went away with a bairn who was still gurgling and came back to a son in short trousers.  If you are serving then that is the way of the world.  The days of wives tramping all over the world after their husbands is a thing of the past.”

“And that is why I am not staying in.  As soon as I can I am getting out.”

“And I don’t blame you.  For me it was a career and my brother was running the estate.  It’ll be mine now and I like you Gordy; the minute hostilities cease I will put in my papers. I will become a gentleman of leisure.”

Two days later Archie and Randolph were summoned to Headquarters and, ominously, our replacements arrived. The Offensive was on.  We did not know it at the time but we would be attacking until the war ended.

They arrived back too late to brief us.  We had spent the day organising the new fliers and finding out how little experience they had. When we were briefed we saw the enormity of our task.

“We have to keep the Germans behind the Hindenburg line occupied so that they cannot reinforce their front!”

Ted almost choked on his whisky, “But that is twenty miles behind the German lines!”

“I know Ted but the offensive is going to begin here in this sector.  It has to be a complete surprise. The Hun will think we are licking our wounds after their offensive failed.  The troops and the tanks go over the top on August the eighth!”

“Bloody hell that doesn’t give us long.”

“I know. For that reason we are flying as flights.  We fly staggered so that there is always a flight in the air. We fly from dawn until dusk.”

I tapped out my pipe.  “Of course we have a bunch of new pilots too, sir.”

Archie nodded, sadly, “I know and we can do nothing to protect them. Number 15 squadron will help us out and hopefully the new Yank squadrons will fill in further south.  We are not alone and thanks to buses coming back from Palestine we have almost thirty eight squadrons. It is not as bleak as you might think.”

There was a distinct lack of enthusiasm.  I was luckier than the rest.  I just had one new pilot, Lieutenant Ralph Carter.  I had Jack Fall keep an eye on him.

When I got to my quarters Bates was in a particularly good mood, “You are happy, Bates.”

“Yes sir.  I had a letter from your mother.  She is so happy now that your good lady is living with them.  With your nephew in the house too she sounds like a young woman again. I think it has been a very wise decision.”

I couldn’t help thinking about poor Lieutenant Fox.  I had a supportive family and my wife was happy.  Jamie’s wife was unhappy and kept a prisoner so that she could not even send a letter to her husband.  I thanked my lucky stars.

We were the first flight up the next day and we headed towards Bapaume. I kept us as high as I dared. The days were almost fourteen hours long and this would be an incredibly arduous day; especially for the new pilots.

We had half an hour left before we were relieved when we saw the five Albatros appear on the horizon.  Our early start meant we were on station before they were.  We had been told to be aggressive and I led my stacked flight east.  I frowned when I saw that my new pilot was not as high as he should have been.  He would not be able to add his fire to that of Lieutenant Dundas. Still it was his first flight and we would have to have a word when we landed.

The five Albatros came on. We knew we had the beating of them and they must have had the same feeling we had once had when facing the triplane for the first time. I saw that they were struggling to climb.  It was a fault on some of the older German fighters. It meant we had the height and when I dived our acceleration was so great that we must have appeared to be a blur. I aimed for the bird on the extreme left of the German line.  I fired and began to bank at the same time. The German line tried to react but their slow rate of climb and our speed whipped us from their sights in an instant. Wally’s bullets killed the pilot as I lined up on the second one.  The remaining four Albatros had no targets for we were coming in at an angle. It was as though someone had startled some gulls.  The Germans flew in every direction.  I saw two falling to earth and another smoking. Only one had evaded being damaged. 

I turned to starboard and headed for the rendezvous point. We were too low on fuel to chase them.

When we landed we had time for food but I took young Carter to one side.  He was exuberant, “I say, sir, that was easy! Is it always like that?”

“No Lieutenant Carter.” I sighed. I hated to deflate him but I had to for his own sake. “This is not training, Lieutenant.  You have to keep station.”

“But I did sir.  I was on Lieutenant Dundas’ tail as I was ordered.”

“But you weren’t stacked above him.” He looked puzzled. “If you are stacked then you can add your fire to the Camel in front. If the Hun tries to climb then you get an easy kill.”

I saw enlightenment dawn, “That is how the flight managed to down three of them so quickly. Sorry sir.  I didn’t realise.”

“This is a hard school, Lieutenant.  You learn quickly or you are dead.  Watch it when we go up again later on.”

He looked surprised, “We are going up again, sir?”

I laughed, “Welcome to the sharp end of the war.”

It was a war of attrition in those five days before the offensive began. It took its toll on the Camels and, after the first day, we flew with fewer buses but we still kept knocking down the Germans and they saw nothing of our preparations. We never saw more than eight of them.  Perhaps it was true that they were running out of fuel or perhaps we had knocked too many of them from the sky and they couldn’t replace them.  Certainly the first week of August was an easy time for us. It would not remain that way.

One thing we noticed about the new pilots was their new uniforms.  They were RAF. They were not vastly different to ours but they showed a change.  Our world was changing.

We only had twenty Camels ready for the day of the offensive. It would begin at four o’clock in the morning. There would be a creeping barrage and then an attack by tanks, infantry and ground attack aeroplanes.  We knew, from flying over the battlefield, that the Germans had not consolidated their new gains.  They had only had them for a few weeks. They liked to make formidable defences and so far our attacks had not allowed them to do so. It was hoped that the surprise would work in our favour for once.

We waited behind the British lines as the barrage began and the tanks rolled forward. We were high enough to see the shells strike the German trenches and destroy the machine guns. The ground over which the tanks trundled was flat and it was dry. Cambrai had been boggy and lessons had been learned.  As the barrage crept forward we flew diagonally across the battlefield machine gunning any storm troopers who attempted to attack the tanks. There were fewer of these elite troops this time. They rolled on with a mixture of Australian, Canadian and British troops marching steadfastly east. By the time we had to return to refuel the offensive had managed to punch a hole fifteen miles wide. It was unprecedented. As we returned to the battle in the afternoon we saw that the SE 5s had had a dogfight with the Germans and there were damaged and destroyed aeroplanes littering the battlefield but still the tanks rolled forward. They only stopped when they ran out of fuel and we turned for home with the soldiers digging in for the night.

It went on like that for three days.  Finally the offensive stopped, having gained twelve miles.  We had outrun our supplies but, for the first time we had defeated the Germans. We had made substantial gains. Over thirty thousand Germans had been killed wounded or captured for the loss of just six and a half thousand. We began to dream that we might win the war.

Of course Fate has a way of waiting until you dream before giving you a nightmare. Poor Lieutenant Fox received a letter from home; a letter from his wife.  Fortunately he was in the mess when he read the letter. He suddenly stood and shouted, “Bastard!” He tried to run out.  Enough of the pilots now knew of his dilemma and Jack and Jonny restrained him. Johnny had a laconic manner about him and he said, “I say, old boy, what’s the matter?”

I was seated in an armchair and I saw that Jamie was weeping.  He thrust the letter at Johnny. Johnny read it and then put his arm around Jamie.  “You ought to read this, sir.”

Freddie had walked over to his young pilot and he took the letter. He shook his head in disbelief and came to me, “It is from his wife sir.  It seems her father found out she was pregnant and threw her out on the street.  She is in the workhouse in Wigan.”

If I had had the magistrate before me I would have done more than horsewhip him. However I needed to do something more positive. “Freddie, I shall try to remedy this situation but you and the others need to stop him doing anything stupid.  Tell him that I have a plan and he has to trust me.”

“Sir, and thank you.” This was something way out of Freddie’s experience.

I ran to the office.  “Randolph I need to get to Amiens.  I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Randolph knew me well enough not to question me. “Of course.  Anything I can do?”

“See Freddie and then you will understand.”

By the time I got back I had missed dinner and it was late but I had done what I could. The mess was like a funeral parlour.  Everyone was there and Archie was glowering at Jamie who sat between Freddie and Gordy.  There had obviously been words exchanged. I just hoped that Jamie had not been insolent.  Archie was a fair officer but he had been in the service his whole life.  Insubordination did not sit well with a career officer. Jamie looked up as I entered. It was bizarre because everyone was waiting for me to speak. I should have spoken with Jamie privately but there was no way I could do that.

“I have sent a telegram to my wife and Lady Burscough I have asked them to go to Wigan and bring your wife to my home. They won’t be able to get there until tomorrow.” I spread my arms.  “It was the best that I could do, Lieutenant Fox but I believe your wife will be both safe and cared for.”