iven
with the article, which ran as follows:

Captain Guynemer enjoyed high reputation in the French army, as he
professed having brought down more than fifty airplanes, but many
of these were proved to have got back to their camps, though
damaged it is true. The French, in order to make all verification
on our side impossible, have given up stating, in the past few
months, the place or date of their so-called victories. Certain
French aviators, taken prisoner by our troops, have described his
method thus: sometimes, when in command of his squadron, he left it
to his men to attack, and when he had ascertained which of his
opponents was the weakest, he attacked that one in turn. Sometimes
he would fly alone at very great altitudes, for hours, above his
own lines, and when he saw one of our machines separated from the
others would pounce upon it unawares. If his first onset failed, he
would desist at once, not liking fights of long duration, in the
course of which real gallantry must be displayed.[30]

[Footnote 30: Der Erfolgreichste Franzoesische Kampfflieger Gefallen.
Kapitaen Guynemer genoss grossen Ruhm im franzoesischen Heere, da er 50
Flugzeuge abgeschossen haben wollte. Von diesen ist jedoch
nachgewiesenermassen eine grosse Zahl, wenn auch beschaedigt, in ihre
Flughaefen zurueckgekert. Um deutscherseits eine Nachpruefung unmoeglich zu
machen, wurden in den letzten Monaten Ort und Datum seiner angeblichen
Luftsiege nicht mehr angegeben. Ueber seine Kampfmethode haben gefangene
franzoesische Flieger berichtet: Entweder liess er, als Geschwaderfuehrer
fliegend, seine Kameraden zuerst angreifen un stuerzle sich dann erst auf
den schwaechsten Gegner; oder er flog stundenlang in groessten Hoehe,
allein hinter der franzoesischen Front und stuerzte sich von oben herab
ueberraschend auf einzeln fliegende deutsche Beobachtungsflugzeuge. Hatte
Guynemer beim ersten Verstoss keinen Erfolg, so brach er das Gefecht
sofort ab; auf den laenger dauernden, wahrhaft muterprobenden Kurvenkampf
liess er sich nicht gern ein.--Extract from the _Woche_ of October 6,
1917.]

This is the filth the German paper was not ashamed to print. Repulsive
though it is, I must analyze some of its details. An enemy's abuse
reveals his own character. So this German denied the fifty-three
victories of Guynemer, all controlled, and with such severity that in
his case, as in that