The continuing service of Albert "Mushroom" Ward:

29 Sep 1918 @ 06h49 attack on Vermandois railyard

At briefing we were advised to expect winds of 8 kn from the SW, with heavy cumulus from 4000 ft to 9000 ft and heavy rain. It seems the weather was not cooperating as of late. We heard good news that the Aussies and Americans had broken through the Hindenburg line. Ouur effort today was to disrupt rail transport and hinder the Huns ability to move food and men to the front.

I lead “B” flight composed of Milne, Gilchrist, Grinnell-Milne, Caldwell and Smy. “A” flight sent Speaks, Duncan, Farrell, Chubb, Hervey and Molyneux to assist. We formed up north of the field as usual and attained an altitude of 7700ft before setting out. We reached Albert by 07h14, and continued on in the direction of Peronne, gaining altitude to 10,000 ft to put us just above the prevailing cloud cover. We crossed the lines and immediately began our decent to 3500 ft so as to get down below the clouds so we could identify the railyard. Our course was well kept and as we broke through the clouds the railyard was visible to us. We had not seen any enemy scouts so it looked like this effort would be a surprise. I quickly made the lead approach and dropped my eggs on the edge of the yard but not doing any damage. Caldwell and Smy on the other hand, had direct hits. There was no ground fire or flak to deal with and that was a surprise for us.
I kept looking for enemy scouts but none appeared. Climbing out I signaled to return to base, as I watched “A” flight drop their eggs. Some of them were also direct hits.

We received some light flak when crossing the lines but nothing of significance and we were soon over Albert at 08h01 on our return trip.

All of “A” flight and “B” flight made it back to base safely. We reported in to the RO and later were told the attack was deemed successful based on reports from our two seaters sent out to assess the damage.

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