Germany has also lost her most aggressive aviator, Captain Baron von Richthofen, who commanded the most efficient of the German air squadrons. He was killed just after bringing down his eightieth machine. He was shot down in an aerial combat near Sailly-le-Sec on the Somme. With his "flying circus" of more than twenty followers, Captain von Richthofen flew toward the British lines about noon on April 20. Here they met two British airplanes, and von Richthofen separated himself from his followers and started on a furious pursuit of these machines. Meanwhile a score of other British planes came swirling up and engaged the Germans. The Captain kept after his man and attempted to outmanoeuvre him. The British plane, which was accompanying the one under attack, got above the German. The three machines raced toward the British lines, their machine guns chattering like mad. They kept getting lower, until at last, when they were about fifty yards back of the British trenches, they were only a few hundred feet high. Meanwhile the other German machines were fighting the British squadron more than three miles away.

Machine guns and rifles on the ground came into action against Captain von Richthofen, who was also being fired at by at least one of his adversaries in the air. Suddenly his machine turned its nose downward and crashed to the earth. Examination later showed that the German pilot had a bullet through his heart. Von Richthofen was apparently killed while trying to break through the British aerial defenses in the Ancre region in order that enemy reconnoissance machines might cross the lines to make observations on the defenses. A document captured by the British revealed the reason for his presence there. It was a communication from the "group commander of aviation" to the First Pursuit Squadron, of which von Richthofen's eleventh pursuit flight was part, saying: "It is not possible to fly over the Ancre in a westerly direction on account of strong enemy opposition. I request that this aerial barrage be forced to break in order that a reconnoissance up to the line of Marieux-Puchevillers (ten miles from the front) may be carried out."

Richthofen was buried with military honors behind the British lines. A large number of British fighting men and aviation officers, as well as Americans stationed at a neighboring airdrome, were in attendance. Mechanics of an aviation squadron had constructed a coffin, on which they placed a plate giving the aviator's name, rank, and other data. The body was carried on a motor car, with which marched a firing squad many officers and men. Six British air service officers acted as pallbearers. As the procession moved to the burial place, scores of busy aviation mechanics paused and stood at attention as a tribute to the dead aviator. The Baron was buried under a hemlock tree, and the squad fired the last shots across the grave.

LIST OF GERMANS KILLED

A list printed in the Berliner Zeitung am Mittag on April 24 showed that of the forty-one German aviators who had brought down fifteen or more opponents since the beginning of the war, nineteen had fallen in action and two had been reported missing. The list of the fallen German fliers, together with the alleged number of their victims and the year of their death, follows:

Captain von Richtohofen801918
Lieutenant Boss501917
Captain Bölcke401916
Lieutenant Gontermann391917
Lieutenant Max Müller381918
Lieutenant Kurt Wolff341917
Lieutenant Schaefer301917
Lieutenant Allmenroeder301917
First Lieut. von Tutschek271918
Lieutenant Böhme241917
First Lieut. Bethge201918
Lieutenant von Eschwege201917
Lieutenant Frankl191917
Lieutenant Wintgens181916
Lieutenant Baldamus181917
Lieutenant Hess171917
First Lieut. Immelmann151916
Lieutenant Dossenbach151917
Lieutenant Schneider151917

Lieutenant von Bülow, with twenty-eight victims, and First Lieutenant Dostler, with twenty-six, were reported missing.

At the beginning of the offensive in March, Germany claimed 102 army aviators, each of whom had brought down more than seven airplanes or balloons in battles, and that the total number of victims up to May of these star fliers was 1,698. In this period forty-three of these aces had been killed and three were missing. Others probably had been disabled and were no longer in service. Of those still alive, whether still in the service or not, the ones with the best records were then Lieutenant Bongartz with thirty-three victories, Lieutenant Bucker also with thirty-three, and Lieutenant von Richthofen, brother of the dead ace, with twenty-nine.

FRENCH AND BRITISH "ACES"

France has produced a number of brilliant military airmen, the latest to come into special prominence being Lieutenant René Fonck, who in one day (May 10) brought down six German airplanes. This achievement had not been equaled even by the late Captain Guynemer, of whom Fonck has become the successor in daring, skill, and resourcefulness as an air fighter. On June 4 it was announced that Lieutenant Georges Madon had won his twenty-eighth aerial victory.