Some of the separate episodes illustrate the advantage of unopposed aerial operations. On March 25, for instance, a German artillery column moving along the road between Guiscard and Noyon, was attacked by French airmen and entirely dispersed. The machine gunners in the airplanes killed or wounded many horses which either fell down in their harness and blocked the road, or, panic-stricken, bolted in all directions, leaving the roads and adjoining fields covered with dead men and animals, wrecked guns, caissons, and wagons. Bodies of infantry were similarly broken up, dispersed, or demoralized. Showers of bombs from the airplanes created a barrage, and entire companies of German infantry were annihilated. In addition, railroad stations were damaged, transports blocked, and military works and depots of all kinds destroyed or put out of commission. At no previous time in the war did armies suffer so severely as did the German forces during the five days, March 24-29, 1918. The allied airmen did not come out unscathed. Many were killed by rifle fire, and many machines were lost. But the Allies held the mastery of the air and turned it to the fullest advantage, while the Germans were organizing new aerial squadrons. On the fifth day of this period of allied air supremacy German airplanes began to appear once more, and with the organization of new enemy squadrons, the Allies' ascendency was no longer uncontested. Richthofen and other German air commanders came on the scene with their squadrons, and from March 30 onward there was continued fighting in the air between the opposing forces. OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION A day-to-day story of the air fighting on the Western front would vary little in its recital of duels and raids and battles between opposing squadrons. But on some days there was more intense fighting than usual. Such a day was April 12, when the Allies achieved the feat of destroying or bringing down ninety-three enemy airplanes. That day's work is described in Sir Douglas Haig's report from British Headquarters: On the 12th inst. atmospheric conditions were favorable for flying, and a great concentration of our airplanes was effected by us on the battlefront. Large numbers of low-flying machines were employed in bombing and sweeping with machine-gun fire roads packed with the enemy's troops. Thirty-six tons of bombs and over 110,000 rounds of ammunition were fired by us. While these attacks on ground targets were in progress, other formations, flying at a greater height, engaged the enemy's airplanes, which were extremely active in this sector. Other machines reconnoitred the battle area, bringing back information as to the positions of our own and the enemy's troops. On the remainder of the British front the usual work in co-operation with our artillery was carried out, and a very large number of photographs taken.