Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-09-22 | Page 33 | Night Bombing of Bruges is Perilous

KIGHT BOMBING OF BRUGESJSPERILOUS British Airmen, However, Love to Attack the Big Hun Submarine Base. DANGER LAUGHED AT Graphic Description Given of Methods Pursued in the Assaults LONDON, Sept. 21 (By "the Associated Press). Perils risked by British airmen in night bombing- of Bruges, a most Important Im-portant German submarine base in Belgium,, Bel-gium,, are graphically, described by Captain Cap-tain Paul Bewsher, D. S. C, of the British Brit-ish royal air force. Bruges has been subjected to air attacks so often that it is now considered ono of the best defended de-fended cities on the western front. "The pilot and observer of a British light bombing machine proceeding to Bruges have usually no difficulty in finding find-ing their way, as a haze of light from the searchlights cart be seen twenty or thirty miles off," the captain writes. "As they draw nearer they see a maze of fif- teen or sixteen searchlights moving restlessly rest-lessly over the town, looking for some j machine whose engine has been heard. "Suddenly they see the red flash of a bursting bomb, and then another and another. an-other. At once chains of brilliant emerald-colored balls of fire pour upward in ceaseless lines. Tilling the sky with green bubbles of light. The machine is not picked up,: however, and gradually the lights and shell fire die away. Observations Taken. "Now they are drawing nearer, and the observer crawls through a little door into the - nose of the - machine, examines his bomb handle and adjusts the bomb dropping drop-ping sight.- As he kneels, a heavily muffled muf-fled figure, in his little wooden cockpit, 10,000 feet over nothing, he is so absorbed ab-sorbed in watching the ground that his surroundings seem to, him perfectly normal; nor-mal; he is entirely- at his ease. -- "Below he sees the black line of the canal which he Is using aa a guide. He turns the pilot to the left with a wave of his hand, and then again to the right,- and stops him. with an uplifted arm. - "Ahead he can see the dark mass of the town, and to the left the long basins of tho docks. Far to the left bs the dark lino of the Belgian coast, and "over Os-tend Os-tend and -Zoebrugge- move the sentinel searchlights.' Bruges. lies dark and dim, snatching a brief rest from itu tumultuous night." .' ' "The-, observer waves, his hand, and the roar of the engine 'dies away into silence, as the machine dives toward its target; He unstraps his bomb handle -and leans far over the front,' lookiac; down to the shining water of the dock, absorbed in following fol-lowing the. course of the little metal bar of the sight. It touches the docks" and crosses them. With a quicks-gesture; ha guides the pilot to the left, and tho bar sweeps round and crosses the section, of the quay which he wishes to attack. Bombs Are Released. "He checks the pilot and holds his bomb lever, in readiness. Hundreds Of Germs Ger-ms ns stand waiting at their guns, machine ma-chine guns, searchlights and green ball machines, but he thinks of- nothing save the passage of the metal bar across the black mass between the two shining strips of wa ter. "Suddenly -his 'sight' registers the range. He pushes the lever forward slowly, slow-ly, puUs it back again, and again pushes it forward, and again and again. From behind there comes the click and clatter of fourteen dropping bombs. "He shouts to the, pilot to turn, and; one huge wing climbs toward the stars as tlie machine sweeps round and away from the welter of shells and searchlights that the explosion of the bombs will bring. "Gazing downward, the observer sees at the edge of the quay a red spurt of flame, which slowly dies away. Two others fol- ' low. In the water where lie destroyers and submarines, and then more and: more burst on the sheds in the middle. A white ; sheet of flame bursts from one shed, and, fading slowly, leaves a red glare. . An ammunition store .has beh blown up. The other bombs burst across the wharves and crowded basins, leaving huge clouds of white smoke where they have wrought destruction. On homeward Trip. "Simultaneously with the bursting of the first bomb, hundreds of green balls come streaming in swaying curvos from the ground, and pour upward past the wings or. both sides. Like a handful of ribbons the searchlights have been thrown up, and fill .the sky with wands of light which weave a strange pattern all around the machine. Gun fire flashes round Uie town, and close to the machine now bursts the clamorous barrage. . "It is an awe-inspiring " din, but through it the observer has heard the thud of the bursting bombs below. He scrambles back to tlie pilot and Laughs. Searchlights sweep to and fro, fantastic strings of green balls bubble upward, and-the flash of the shells, seems to fill the whole skyl "The machine roars on " homeward through a maelstrom of flame and fire. The attack has b-en pressed home, and on the docks of Bruges tho ammunition sheds are shattered and in flames, and water is pouring into the battered sides of the submarines. "The airmen fly home, well content with their consciousness of duty well done, and leave far behind the searchlights still vainly scouring every quarter of Uie heavens too late!'