Often the
feverish activity of aircraft at a high altitude is known only to a very
few practised observers. A gentle purring in the air and the scarcely
audible ping-pong of distant revolver shots may represent a fierce duel
in the clouds, and often the soldiers are unaware of the presence of a
hostile airman until the projectiles aimed at them burst in the
trenches. One evening, a graphic official message states, the atmosphere
was so still and clear that only those specially on the lookout detected
the enemy's aeroplanes, and when the bombs burst "the puffs of smoke
from the detonating shell hung in the air for minutes on end like balls
of fleecy cottonwool before they slowly expanded and were dissipated."
Of course, the tactics adopted for dealing with hostile aircraft are to
attack them instantly with one or more British machines, and as in this
respect the British Flying Corps has established an individual
ascendency, Sir John French proudly declares that "something in the
direction of the mastery of the air has already been gained."
XIII
TOMMY AND HIS RATIONS
A medical officer at the front declares that the British Expeditionary
Force is, without doubt, the "best fed Army that has ever taken the
field." That is a sweeping statement, but it is true.
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