Their protection was assured by raids even into
the German lines.
The Storks Escadrille, then, flew in the direction of Verdun. In the
course of the voyage, Guynemer brought down his eighth airplane, which
fell vertically in flames. This was a good augury. Hardly had he arrived
on March 15 when he began to explore the battle-field with his
conqueror's eyes. The enemy at that time still thought himself master,
and dared to venture within the French lines. Guynemer chased, over
Revigny, a group of five airplanes, drove another out of Argonne, and
while returning met two others, almost face to face. He engaged the
first one, tacking under it and firing from a distance of ten meters.
But the adversary answered his fire, and Guynemer's machine was hit: the
right-hand rear longitudinal spar was cut, the cable injured, the right
forward strut also cut, and the wind-shield shattered. The airman
himself was wounded in the face by fragments of aluminum and iron, one
lodging in the jaw, from which it could never be extracted, one in the
right cheek, one in the left eyelid, miraculously leaving the eye
unhurt, while smaller fragments peppered him generally, causing
hemorrhages which clogged his mask and made it adhere to the flesh.
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