mplished such and such an exploit. The Germans,
without knowing their names, recognized them, not by their armor and
their sword-thrust, but by their machines, their maneuvers and methods.
Almost invariably their enemies desperately avoided a fight with them,
retreating far within their own lines, where, even then, they were not
sure of safety. Those who accepted their gage of battle seldom returned.
The enemy aviation camps from Ham to Peronne watched anxiously for the
return of their champions who dared to fight over the French lines. None
of them cared to fly alone, and even in groups they appeared timid. In
patrols of four, five, and six, sometimes more, they flew beyond their
own lines with the utmost caution, fearful at the least alarm, and
anxiously examining the wide and empty sky where these mysterious
knights mounted guard and might at any moment let loose a storm. But in
the course of these prodigious first three months of the battle of the
Somme, our French chasing-patrols not infrequently flew to and fro for
two hours over German aviation camps, forcing down all those who
attempted to rise, and succeeding in spreading terror and consternation
in the enemy's lines.

The Franco-British offensive began on July 1, 1916, on the flat lands
lying along both banks of the Somme River. The general plan of these
operations had been agreed upon in the preceding December. The battle of
Verdun had not prevented its execution which, on the contrary, was
expected to relieve Verdun. The attack was made on a front of 40
kilometers between Gommecourt on the north and Vermandovillers on the
south of the river. From the beginning the French penetrated the enemy's
first lines, the 20th Corps took the village of Curlu and held the
Faviere wood, while the 1st Colonial Corps and one division of the 35th
Corps passed the Fay ravine and took possession of Bacquincourt,
Dompierre and Bussus. On the third, this successful advance continued
into the second lines. Within just a few days General Fayolle's army had
taken 10,000 prisoners, 75 cannon, and several hundred machine-guns. But
the Germans, who were concentrated in the Peronne region, with strong
positions like Maurepas, Combles, and Clery, and, further in the rear,
Bouchavesnes and Sailly-Saillisel on the right bank, and Estrees,
Belloy-en-Santerre, Barleux, Albaincourt and Pressoire on the left bank,
made such desperate resistance that the struggle was prolonged into
mid-winter.