himself was wounded in the face by fragments of aluminum and iron, one
lodging in the jaw, from which it could never be extracted, one in the
right cheek, one in the left eyelid, miraculously leaving the eye
unhurt, while smaller fragments peppered him generally, causing
hemorrhages which clogged his mask and made it adhere to the flesh. In
addition, he had two bullets in his left arm. Though blinded by blood,
he did not lose his sang-froid, and hastily dived, while the second
airplane continued firing, and a third, furnished with a turret, which
had come to the rescue of its comrades, descended after him and fired
down upon his machine. Nevertheless, he had escaped by his maneuver, and
in spite of his injuries made a good landing at Brocourt. On the 14th he
was evacuated to Paris, to the Japanese ambulance in the Hotel Astoria,
and with despair in his soul was obliged to let his comrades fight their
battle of Verdun without his help.

III. "LA TERRE A VU JADIS ERRER DES PALADINS...."[19]

At Verdun our aerial as well as our land forces underwent sudden and
almost prodigious reverses. Within a few days the Storks Escadrille had
been decimated: its chief, Captain Brocard, had been wounded in the face
by a bullet and compelled to land; Lieutenant Perretti had been killed,
Lieutenant Deullin wounded, Guynemer wounded and nearly all its best
pilots put _hors de combat_. The lost air-mastery was only regained by
the tenacity of Major de Rose, Chief of Aviation of the Second Army, and
by a rapid reconcentration of forces.

[Footnote 19: "Once knightly heroes wandered over earth...."]

Major de Rose ordered enemy-chasing, and electrified and inspired his
escadrilles. The part he played during those terrible Verdun months can
never be sufficiently praised. Guynemer's comrades held the sky under
fire, as their brothers, the infantrymen, held the shifting ground
which protected the ancient citadel. Chaput brought down seven
airplanes, Nungesser six, and a drachen, Navarre four, Lenoir four,
Auger and Pelletier d'Oisy three, Puple, Chainat, and Lesort two. The
observation airplanes rivaled the fighting machines, often defending
themselves, and not infrequently forcing down their assailants in
flames. Twice Sergeant Fedoroff rid himself in this manner of
troublesome adversaries. But other pilots deserve to be mentioned,
pilots such as Stribick and Houtt, Captain Vuillemin, Lieutenant de
Laage, Sergeants de Ridder, Viallet and