great altitude.
He worked without being disturbed, and soon turned back without having
been fired at. On the way back, I saw bombs bursting at Douaumont and
flew over to get a closer view. There were four or five other German
biplanes there; I also noticed several French battleplanes at a
distance. I kept in the background and watched our opponents. I saw a
Nieuport attack one of our machines, so I went for him and I almost
felt I had him; but my speed was too great, and I shot past him. He
then made off at great speed; I behind him. Several times I was very
near him, and fired, but he flew splendidly. I followed him for a
little while longer, but he did not appreciate this. Meanwhile, the
other French battleplanes had come up, and started firing at me. I
flew back over our lines and waited for them there. One, who was much
higher than the rest, came and attacked me; we circled around several
times and then he flew away. I was so far below him that it was hard
to attack him at all. But I could not let him deprive me of the
pleasure of following him for a while. During this tilt, I dropped
from 4,000 meters to a height of less than 2,000. Our biplanes had
also drifted downward.

Suddenly, at an altitude of 4,700 meters, I saw eight of the enemy's
Caudrons. I could hardly believe my eyes! They were flying in pairs,
as if attached to strings, in perfect line. They each had two engines,
and were flying on the line Meuse-Douaumont. It was a shame! Now, I
had to climb to their altitude again. So I stayed beneath a pair of
them and tried to get at them. But, as they were flying so high and
would not come down toward me, I had no success. Shortly before they
were over our kite-balloons they turned. So fifteen or twenty minutes
passed. Finally I reached their height. I attacked from below, and
tried to give them something to remember me by, but they paid no
attention to me, and flew home. Just then, above Cote de ----, I saw
two more Caudrons appear, and, thank goodness, they were below me. I
flew toward them, but they were already across the Meuse. Just in
time, I looked up, and saw a Nieuport and a Caudron coming down toward
me. I attacked the more dangerous opponent first, and so flew straight
toward the Nieuport. We passed each other firing, but neither of us
were hit. I was only striving to protect myself. When flying toward
each other, it is very difficult to score a hit because of the
combined speed of the two craft. I