On the 2nd day of April, 1917, stage manager Haig ordered the curtain
raised and, with its raising, vengeance was let loose. Gaps 20 to 30
feet wide were blasted in the barbed wire; some of the mine shafts
about Lens were flattened and destroyed; Fritzie's supply roads were
rained upon with a steady hail of hell night and day, preventing the
entrance to his trenches not only of ammunition, but also of food, and
prevented the withdrawal of any men from his lines; his ammunition dumps
were set ablaze, the fires from them lighting up the whole country-side
for miles around. In the air the efficiency of our preparatory work was
equally demonstrated. A new type of flier winged his way back and forth
over the sausage-fed warriors, and the ability of our birds to hold the
line in the Heavens was amply demonstrated, one British airman, on the
28th of March, five days before the battle began, downing three German
eagles in quick succession. Spellbound I watched the magnificent work of
this flier.
Far up as the eye could reach, six British planes in battle formation,
the leader of the squad about three hundred yards in advance, four
others in a row, the sixth three hundred yards in the rear, winged their
way.
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