Day by Day with the Russian Army, 1914-15Pares, Bernard
History
Day by Day with the Russian Army, 1914-15
Pares, Bernard
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Poland; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, English
The tremendous and human struggle of all Europe was become a simple
problem of science; one had mounted to the skies and reached what
Napoleon, with his heartlessness and his seeing mind, had called "the
celestial side of the art of war." What would he have given for this
view, where his trained eye could have marked down not only the numbers
indicated by slight symptoms, but the full bearing of each, suggested
by the flash of genius so typical of him. Surely it was a measure of
magnificent consolation for the enormous widening of the area of combat.
The dull flats beyond the river rose to higher ground eastward, and
there on a high wooded plateau ran the railway dead straight, and at
one point a stationary train marked the centre of many of our troubles,
the point from which the 42-centimetre guns had been bombarding Tarnow.
As our aeroplanes flew along the river, there flicked out from a copse
a shot from a masked Austrian air-battery, posted there to keep off the
too curious eye. I was told afterwards that there were other shots, but
we did not see or hear them.
We returned as we came, making a great circuit away from the lines and
wheeling always nearer to the earth. We made a straight drive over the
aerodrome while the company of airmen stood at the salute, and after
circling once more over the town came to the ground. We had had an
hour's run, and our highest elevation was 1200 metres. It appeared
that there had been awkward currents of wind and that we had wobbled a
good deal, but it had not seemed so to me, and what I remembered was a
smooth, regular motion and a broad back and a cool head in front of me.
_April 7._
My flying friends have a small but very interesting collection of
letters which, with the leave of the authorities, no doubt on both
sides, have been exchanged between them and the airmen of the enemy.
It is headed simply, "Correspondence with the --th Austrian Section of
Aviators." It opens with a letter from the Russian Chief of Section:
"Airmen of yours have been taken prisoner in civil costume. They said
that our officers have also, which we doubt. Please let us know what
is the character of the serious wound of Lt. X, taken prisoner by you
on January --th." This note was dropped on the Austrian aerodrome
with two letters from Austrian prisoners. As the answer was delayed,
the Russians dropped a second note, this time in German, on the
same place. It reported that the captive Austrians were unwounded
and proceeds: "Your note picked up at ---- on the ----th of March
leaves the impression that our first message has not reached you; we
therefore would respectfully ask you to answer our note. We also send a
friendly-foemanly request that you will give us news of our airman, Lt.
----. He was taken prisoner on the --th of January and was wounded. We
should like to know how it happened and whether the wound is slight or
serious.--The Russian Flyers."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account