We must turn then to Guynemer's letters--strange
letters, indeed, which contain nothing, absolutely nothing about the
war, or the battle of the Somme, or about anything else except _his_ war
and _his_ battle. The earth-world no longer existed for him: the earth
was a place which received the dead and the vanquished. So this is the
way in which he wrote his two sisters, then sojourning in Switzerland
(Fritz meaning any enemy airplane):
Dear Kids,
Some sport: the 17, attacked a Fritz, three shots and gun jammed;
Fritz tumbled. The 18th, _idem_, but in two shots: two Fritzes in
five shots, record.
Day before yesterday, attacked Fritz at 4.30 at ten meters: killed
the passenger and perhaps the rest, prevented from seeing what
happened by a fight at half-past four: the Boche ran.
At 7.40 attacked an Aviatik, carried away by the impetus, passed it
at fifty centimeters; passenger "_couic_" (killed), the machine
fell and was got under control again at fifty meters above the
ground.
At 7.35, attacked an L.
Pages:
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167