Three lines to describe a victory, the sixteenth.  And what boarding of the adversary, from above and from below!  He springs upon the enemy, but fails to go through him.  Both speeds combined, he does not make much less than 400 kilometers an hour when he dives on him.  The meeting and shooting hardly last one second, after which the combat continues, with other maneuvers.  Some savant should calculate the time allowed for sight and thought in fighting such duels!

This was the period of the great series of combats on the Somme.  The Storks Escadrille, which was the first to arrive, waged battle uninterruptedly for eight months.  Other escadrilles came to the rescue.  Altogether they were divided into two groups, one under the command of Major Fequant, the other under that of Captain Brocard, appointed chief of battalion.  It becomes impossible to enumerate all Guynemer’s victories, and we can merely emphasize the days on which he surpassed himself.  September 28 was a remarkable day, on which he brought down two enemies and had a fall from a height of 3000 meters.  Little Paul Bailly would hardly have believed that; he would have said it was surely a legend, the golden legend of aviation.  Nevertheless, here is Guynemer’s statement, countersigned by the escadrille commandant: 

“Saturday, September 23.—­Two combats near Eterpigny.  At 11.20 forced down a Boche in flames near Aches; at 11.21 forced a Boche to land, damaged, near Carrepuy; at 11.25 forced down a Boche in flames near Roye.  At 11.30, was forced down myself by a French shell, and smashed my machine near Fescamps....”

These combats occurred between Peronne and Montdidier.  To his father he wrote with more precision, but in his usual elliptical style.

“September 22:  Asphyxiated a Fokker in 30 seconds, tumbled down disabled.

“September 23:  11.20.—­A Boche in flames within our lines.

“11.21.—­A Boche disabled, passenger killed.

“11.25.—­A Boche in flames 400 meters from the lines.

“11.25 and a half.—­A 75 blew up my water reservoir, and all the linen of the left upper plane, hence a superb tail spin.  Succeeded in changing it into a glide.  Fell to ground at speed of 160 or 180 kilometers:  everything broken like matches, then the ‘taxi’ rebounded, turned around at 45 degrees, and came back, head down, planting itself in the ground 40 meters away like a post; they could not budge it.  Nothing was left but the body, which was intact:  the Spad is strong; with any other machine I should now be thinner than this sheet of paper.  I fell 100 meters from the battery that had demolished me; they had not aimed at me, but they brought me down all the same, which they had no difficulty in recognizing; the shell struck me hard some time before exploding.  The Boche fell close by Major Constantin’s post.  I picked up the pieces.”