Georges Guynemer: Knight of the AirBordeaux, Henry
History
Georges Guynemer: Knight of the Air
Bordeaux, Henry
Air pilots -- France -- Biography; Guynemer, Georges, 1894-1917; World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations
It should be added that investigation in this case was only made
with the greatest difficulty, as the enemy was constantly
attacking, fresh troops were frequently brought in or relieved, and
eye witnesses had either been killed or wounded, or transferred.
Our troops being continually engaged have not been in a position to
give the aforesaid information sooner.
So there had been no military funeral, and Guynemer had accepted nothing
from his enemies, not even a wooden cross. The battle he had so often
fought in the air had continued around his body; the Allied guns had
kept the Germans away from it. So nobody can say where lies what was
left of Guynemer: and no hand had touched him. Dead though he was, he
escaped. He who was life and movement itself, could not accept the
immobility of the tomb.
German applause, like that with which the Greeks welcomed the dead body
of Hector, did not fail to welcome Guynemer's end. At the end of three
weeks a coarse and discourteous paean was sung in the _Woche_. In its
issue of October 6, this paper devoted to Guynemer, under the title
"Most Successful French Aviator Killed," an article whose lying
cowardice is enough to disgrace a newspaper, and which ought to be
preserved to shame it. A reproduction of Guynemer's diploma was given
with the article, which ran as follows:
Captain Guynemer enjoyed high reputation in the French army, as he
professed having brought down more than fifty airplanes, but many
of these were proved to have got back to their camps, though
damaged it is true. The French, in order to make all verification
on our side impossible, have given up stating, in the past few
months, the place or date of their so-called victories. Certain
French aviators, taken prisoner by our troops, have described his
method thus: sometimes, when in command of his squadron, he left it
to his men to attack, and when he had ascertained which of his
opponents was the weakest, he attacked that one in turn. Sometimes
he would fly alone at very great altitudes, for hours, above his
own lines, and when he saw one of our machines separated from the
others would pounce upon it unawares. If his first onset failed, he
would desist at once, not liking fights of long duration, in the
course of which real gallantry must be displayed.[30]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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