It should be added that investigation in this case was only made with the greatest difficulty, as the enemy was constantly attacking, fresh troops were frequently brought in or relieved, and eye witnesses had either been killed or wounded, or transferred.  Our troops being continually engaged have not been in a position to give the aforesaid information sooner.

So there had been no military funeral, and Guynemer had accepted nothing from his enemies, not even a wooden cross.  The battle he had so often fought in the air had continued around his body; the Allied guns had kept the Germans away from it.  So nobody can say where lies what was left of Guynemer:  and no hand had touched him.  Dead though he was, he escaped.  He who was life and movement itself, could not accept the immobility of the tomb.

German applause, like that with which the Greeks welcomed the dead body of Hector, did not fail to welcome Guynemer’s end.  At the end of three weeks a coarse and discourteous paean was sung in the Woche.  In its issue of October 6, this paper devoted to Guynemer, under the title “Most Successful French Aviator Killed,” an article whose lying cowardice is enough to disgrace a newspaper, and which ought to be preserved to shame it.  A reproduction of Guynemer’s diploma was given 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