With 2Lt Clark's example in mind, I volunteered for this evening's Twilight Patrol. Keeping a close eye on both the sun and the clouds, I made my way very slowly toward the lines near Arras. By the time I reached them, the rain in which I'd started had stopped, and the sky had cleared to the lightest cloud. It was, however, truly twilight, so I turned and flew southward over the trenches, waving to our troops and strafing the Germans.
As I neared Mercatel, the cloud disappeared entirely and visibility became unlimited. With 2Lt Clark still in mind, I cut my patrol short and headed for home. The Germans had other ideas, though, and four Halberstadt D3s dove on me as I passed over the town. The odds made it difficult for me to line up a shot, as it was all I could do to keep out of four gunsights. Eventually I managed to cut one off from the rest and fire on it, unfortunately to no effect. The Germans broke off shortly thereafter.
While I was occupied with the Halberstadts, the clouds had been creeping back. I decided to continue my patrol and returned to the lines, making my way southward as before.
Approaching Bapaume, which was to be the end of my run along the lines, I was startled to see bullet holes open up in the fabric of my wings, and an all-red Albatros D3 flash past! At tree-top level, I flew low behind a slight ridge until I was sure I was alone again. This did not seem likely to inspire our troops, so I returned to the lines, waving and strafing (and clearing a jam), until I reached the planned limit of my patrol.
One of our machine gun emplacements north of Bapaume was a bit trigger-happy, but I dodged their bullets and returned to Corbie, where it was still raining.
(signed) 2nd Lieutenant Gerald Carson-Jeffries
BFlight, No. 54 Sqdn RFC
April 14, 1917
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- Victory Points
- Patrolled 5 Hexes +10
Trench Strafing +24 - Total +34
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