cavalry divisions under General De Mitry.

The German army had failed to take Paris; all its efforts were now
concentrated on the seizure of the Channel ports, and its pressure on
the defending line was like the pressure of a great rising head of
waters against the gates of a lock. The glory of the defence belongs to
the infantry. The men who flew above them could only watch them and help
them with eyes. The infantry were often unconscious of this help; they
disliked seeing hostile observers above them and often fired on
aeroplanes with very little distinction made between friends and foes.
On the 26th of October Major G. H. Raleigh, of No. 4 Squadron, reports
an artillery reconnaissance as follows: 'Hosking and Crean did a
tactical reconnaissance early, but were unable to locate batteries owing
to clouds. They went up later and did it. The clouds were low, so it was
arranged that they should fly over one of our batteries to observe for
ranging. The machine came down in flames and was completely demolished.
Pilot and passenger had both been wounded by our own infantry fire when
at a height of about a thousand feet with the large Union Jack plainly
visible.'

Wing Commander W. D. Beatty tells how, before this time, the
disadvantage of the Union Jack marking on the planes was becoming
evident. The officer in command of an aviation camp at Paris had pointed
out to him that, at a height, only the red cross of the Union Jack was
clearly visible, and that it was mistaken by the French for the German
marking. A suggestion was made that the British should adopt the French
circular marking. The mishap of the 26th of October hastened the
adoption of this suggestion, and thereafter the French target was
painted on British aeroplanes, with the alteration only of blue for red
and red for blue, to preserve national distinctions.

Commanding officers sometimes complained that our machines were little
in evidence. The aeroplane observers, operating over enemy territory,
reported to their own command, and their reports, forwarded to the
proper quarters, took effect in the orders issued by Headquarters, so
that crucial improvements were sometimes made in our dispositions, by
information obtained from the air, though the infantry had seen no
machine in the air above them. The use of machines for more local needs,
such as artillery ranging, hastened the recognition of the services
rendered by the Flying Corps, and brought it into closer