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Bölcke asks MvR

Event ID: 125

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Der rote Kampfflieger von Rittmeister Manfred Freiherrn von Richthofen, 1917, 351.000 - 400.000, Verlag Ullstein & Co, Berlin-Wien

01 September 1916

51.22105384315831, 24.712105352143748
Kowel

Source ID: 4

Der rote Kampfflieger von Rittmeister Manfred Freiherrn von Richthofen, 1917, 351.000 - 400.000, Verlag Ullstein & Co, Berlin-Wien p.  88 

“At last! The August sun was almost unbearable on the sandy airfield in Kowel. We were chatting with our comrades when one of them said: ‘Today the great Boelcke is coming to visit us, or rather his brother, in Kowel.’ In the evening the famous man appeared, greatly admired by us, and told us many interesting things about his journey to Turkey, from which he was just on his way back to report to the Grand Headquarters. He said that he was going to the Somme to continue his work there, and that he was also to raise a whole hunting squadron. For this purpose he could choose people from the air force who seemed suitable to him. I didn’t dare ask him to take me with him. Not because I was bored with our squadron – on the contrary, we made great and interesting flights and destroyed many a railway station with our bombs – but the thought of fighting on the Western Front again appealed to me. There’s nothing better for a young cavalry officer than to go hunting. Boelcke was due to leave again the next morning. Early in the morning there was a sudden knock at [89]my door, and the tall man with the Pour le mérite was standing in front of me. I didn’t quite know what he wanted from me. I knew him, as I have already mentioned, but it never occurred to me that he had come to me to ask me to become his pupil. I almost threw my arms around his neck when he asked me if I wanted to go to the Somme with him.”

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