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Show !i AIRMEN BREAK IIP I 'ffJlAJJTTffi j I Pilots Dive Vertically and II Bomb on Bridge Over W Which Germans W ere I Passing. f BEHIND BRITISH LINES IN js FRANCE, Oct. 3. (Correspondence of the Associated Press.) How two J t British airmen broke up an Impending ,j I German attack along the Somme was , I told recently by Lieut, L. Walmsloy of I the Royal Air force. "Two of our young airmen," "he said. I j "sighted a bridge over the Somme' ji which neither had ever seen before in f ii three months' constant patrolling of I this area. : "It was evidently a temporary affair lj which the enemy had built during the m night, and If It was now being used to pass across men and artillery for a u counter-attack somewhere. It might J mean very serious developments for ); the British troops who were holding !'! this particular section of front rather 'i! lightly. j?), "All doubt on this score was quickly fjl settled, for a long gray line could be ; seen leading from the north across the bridge to the south bank of the river. 1 11 whore a mass of about 400 soldiers was ' gathered. Here indeed was a target jj "worthy of notice. i The leading pilot dived almost ver- i tically, released his two" bombs and f -watched them burst in the river, mlss- ing the bridge. T' Center of Bridge Destroyed. iJl "The second pilot now dived and In , 1 ! five seconds the Germans saw his sec- 3. 1 'ond bomb strike the dead center of the I bridge and explode with great force, !l completely destroying and sinking the 1 two middle pontoons. Detached from i the moorings, the remainder broke away and began to float slowly down !; stream. ;ij "Realizing their plight, the Germans ' who had already crossed became quite J. demoralized. Many plunged Into the jjj -water, while others tried to hido among the vegetation. Nothing, however, how-ever, could conceal them from the devilish hall of lead which now poured pour-ed down from the air above them. Round and round, at a height of less than 100 feet, circled the two English airplanes, the piercing staccato o.r their Vickers sounding high over the drone of the engines. "For ten minutes the slaughter went on, with very brief intervals and then, with their last round fired, the airmen turned for home, having accomplished as much for their side as an important trench raid in which hundreds of men might be engaged." nn |
