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Army report of April 26, 1916

Event ID: 120

Categories: 

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

25 April 1916

Heeresbericht vom 26. April 1916
49.19157010878224, 5.43058821695803
über Fleury, südlich von Douaumont und westlich davon
Fleury-devant-Douamont

Source ID: 4

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

‘In the army report of 26 April 1916 I am mentioned for the first time, if not personally, at least by one of my deeds. I had mounted a gun on top of my machine between the carrying decks in the style of the Nieuport and was very proud of this construction alone. People probably laughed at it a bit, because it looked very primitive. I swore by it, of course, and soon had the opportunity to put it to practical use. I met a Nieuport who was apparently also a [73]beginner, for he behaved terribly foolishly. I flew at him, whereupon he bolted. Apparently he had a jam. I didn’t feel like I was fighting, but rather: ‘What will happen now if you shoot at him?’ I fly over, for the first time at a very, very close range, press the button on the machine gun, a short series of well-aimed shots, my Nieuport rears up and rolls over. At first, my observer and I thought it was one of the many tricks that the French tend to pull on us. But this trick wouldn’t stop, it went lower and lower and lower; then my ‘Franz’ tapped me on the head and called out to me: ‘Congratulations, he’s falling!’ Indeed, it fell into a forest behind Fort Douaumont and disappeared between the trees. ‘You shot him down,’ I realised. But – beyond! I flew home and reported nothing more than: ‘A dogfight, a Nieuport shot down.’ The next day I read about my heroic deed in the army report. I wasn’t too proud of it, but this Nieuport doesn’t count as one of my fifty-two. * Army report of 26 April 1916 Two enemy aircraft were shot down in aerial combat over Fleury, south of Douaumont and west of it.’

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Source: Red Baron, The Life and Death of an Ace, Peter Kilduff, A David & Charles book, 2007

    Ove nine decades later, modern research can only suggest that he may have accounted for the Nieuport 11 fighter that appeared on that day’s French casualty list; its pilot, Maréchal des Logis Jean Casale of Escadrille N. 23, was reported as wounded.

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