‘A little later I change my direction and go straight north, leaving Coblenz on my left. Far in front of me I can see a small grey ribbon ... The Rhine. It looks beautiful from up here. Somehow my confidence increases every minute. Sure everything will go well. I cross over the right bank. On the river many long convoys of barges go up towards Coblenz. If only I did not have a consignment of bombs to deliver, I should go down to gun them. It is funny how strong these temptations are.... Here is Bonn. My friend and co-raider is still on my right. My engine keeps on turning merrily, and I marvel at the ease with which I have covered these first 200 kilometres. A quick calculation shows me that we are going at the rate of about 130 miles an hour. It is a goodish speed. The weather is cold up here. My thermometer shows sixteen degrees below zero. To try and get warm I move arms and legs as much as I can in that cramped space. A few drops of peppermint which I drink warm my inside and cool my mouth.... Underneath the Rhine, and still more boats!... Now we pass a town which seems enormous. It is Cologne. What a splendid target it would make! But there are women, children, old people, and I am a soldier, not a pirate. I must only aim at destroying the military power of the enemy. Now I point straight towards Dusseldorf. But all the district disappears under a pool of smoke. What an extraordinary agglomeration of works! Here are Solingen, Elberfeld, Barmen, black country criss-crossed by innumerable railway lines and with hundreds of high chimneys, like guns, pointing to the sky. Down there a tremendous amount of arms of all sorts, guns, munitions, &c., all to be directed against us, are produced with a tremendous activity. ‘Essen at last. I am over what has been considered as the heart of Germany, over the town which stands as the symbol of brutal force. Where now are the Krupp’s works? There, at the west of the town. How large they are! The shops and buildings, between which trains are running, seem innumerable. The attempts to disguise it are indeed foolish. It is the most perfect target one can imagine. Now I suppose I am going to be _strafed_. I look here and there for bursting shells. Nothing! They aim too low. However, some very violent waves of air of which I do not understand the cause disturb for a moment my bombing preparations.