could not allow this to go
on. I attacked him and he soon had to suffer for it. I shot up his
gasoline and oil tanks and wounded him in the right thigh. He landed
and was captured. That was Number 24.

Number 25 had to wait till the next day. A fleet of seven Englishmen
passed over our field. Behind them I rose and cut off their retreat.
At P. I got near them. I was the lower and, therefore, almost
defenseless. This they took advantage of, and attacked me. Nerve! But
I soon turned the tables and got my sights on one of them. I got nice
and close to him, and let him have about 500 shots at forty meters.
Then he had enough. Lieutenant von R. fired a few more shots at him,
but he was finished without them. At H. he fell in a forest and was
completely wrecked.

Things are very lively here. The Englishmen always appear in swarms. I
regret I did not have enough machines for all my men. Yesterday the
first consignment arrived. The other half will come very soon. They
shot down two Englishmen yesterday, and there won't be many Englishmen
left in a little while.

Yesterday, my officer for special service arrived; he will relieve me
of a lot of work. Nevertheless, my time is well occupied, even when
not flying. There is a lot to do if one has to make a division out of
practically nothing. But it pleases me to see things gradually work
out as I plan them.

_LATER_

In the meantime, things have changed considerably. Two of my men and I
got into an English squadron and had a thorough housecleaning. Each of
us brought down an Englishman. We are getting along fine; since last
night five Englishmen. I shot down the leader, which I recognized
by little flags on one of the planes. He landed at E. and set his
machine afire. His observer was slightly wounded. When I arrived in an
auto they had both been taken away. He had landed because I had shot
his engine to pieces.

LETTER OF OCTOBER 8, 1916

Yesterday you read of Number 30, but even that is a back number.
Number 31 has followed its predecessors.

On September 17th came Number 27. With some of my men I attacked a
squadron of F.-E. biplanes on the way back from C. Of these, we shot
down six out of eight. Only two escaped. I picked out the leader, and
shot up his engine so he had to land. It landed right near one of our
kite-balloons. They were hardly down when the whole airplane was
ablaze. It seems they have some means of destroyi