"
In spite of this _readiness to attack_, the enemy recommended prudence
in scouting and patrolling work. The airman was not to engage in a fight
without special orders. He seldom cruises by himself, and most often is
one of five. To one Boelcke, fond of high altitudes and given to
pouncing falconlike on his prey, like Guynemer, there are scores of
Richtofens who, under careful protection from other airplanes, circle
round and round trying to attract the enemy, and unexpectedly getting
behind him by a spiral or a loop. It should be said here that the German
controlling boards take the pilot's word concerning the number of his
victories instead of requiring, as the French do, the evidence of eye
witnesses. The high figures generously allowed to a Richtofen or a
Werner Voss are less creditable than the strictly controlled record of a
Guynemer, a Nungesser, or a Dorme.
The enemy expected in April, 1917, a massive attack from the French air
forces in the Aisne, and had taken measures to evade it. An order from
the staff of the Seventh Army says that all flying units shall be given
the alarm whenever a large number of French airplanes are sighted.
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