Why do they send us escorts when they just run away? Today, Manfred and I were ordered to bomb the enemy trenches up near Arras. We were told we could expect an escort from the Naval unit and since I'm a reasonable man, I decided to give them another chance. We met our escort and proceeded on to the front, but before we arrived two of the hated Nieuports made an appearance. As soon as our escort saw the Nieuports, he turned and ran leaving us on our own once again. I signaled to Manfred and told Hans to prepare because the enemy was quickly diving to attack. I began turning towards the nearest enemy, but not before the sounds of bullets hitting our machine could be heard. I maintained my turn and Hans started firing, he must have hit the Frenchman because he dove away. The second Frenchman was just now getting into position when I put him squarely in Hans' sights. Hans is an efficient and steady observer and in no time I saw that he had hit the enemy's engine. This Frenchman also now turned away to disengage, but now my blood was up and I gave chase. Soon, the Nieuport was in range and Hans gave him a good burst after which his engine burst into flames. I collected Manfred and we turned for home. As we were approaching our field, I saw that schweinehund from the navy had the audacity to land at our field. After we rolled to a stop, I had to restrain Hans from physically attacking the naval man. It wasn't for any noble reason, just Hans would have gotten into a lot of trouble and the coward wasn't worth it.
Member and provider of banjo music for the Illustrious BOC
