CHAPTER XIX.
HOW ZEEBRUGGE WAS BOMBARDED.
On their way up the coast there had been several occasions when, for abrief space of time, as a cloud was encountered, the onrushing fleet ofseaplanes was swathed in a flurry of blinding snow. That was why Frankexpressed the wish nothing of the kind might occur while the bombardmentof the Belgian town on the edge of the Channel was in progress.
Zeebrugge is at the terminus of a canal, and had no sooner fallen intothe hands of the Kaiser's forces than they realized it would make anadmirable place from which to start their submarine vessels against theshipping accustomed to using the English Channel.
The submarines were sent there in sections and assembled in shipyardsarranged for that purpose. In fact, as the war progressed, Zeebrugge wasrapidly becoming a very important center of military and naval industry.
As Frank well knew, Antwerp might have served the purposes of theGermans much better, but to reach the sea, vessels would have to cross asection of Holland, and the pugnacious little Dutch country had declaredshe would resist such invasion of her rights to the last man and vessel.As the Hollanders have always been good fighters, with an army of half amillion men to back them, Germany had wisely chosen to make use ofZeebrugge.
Billy reported that the same excitement existed as at Ostend. Everywherethere were men seen running, and pointing upward toward the flock ofaerial war craft.
"And I don't blame them a bit for being scared," he went on to say. "Twoor three aeroplanes at a time are bad enough, but thirty in abunch--holy smoke! it would frighten any American community half out oftheir wits, I'm thinking."
"There goes the first shot at us!" announced Pudge, and it was strangehow he, unconsciously perhaps, seemed to include the _Sea Eagle_ in thelist of invading aircraft, though they did not mean to lift a handagainst the defenders of Zeebrugge.
"It fell far short," observed Billy. "They're so worked up they hardlyknow what they are doing. This time I reckon the seaplanes mean to keepabove the reach of the shrapnel."
"In which they show their good sense," Pudge replied. "It only takes alittle hit to bring an aeroplane down to the ground; and if a pilot andhis helper ever dropped from this distance it means good-by."
Except when one of the shrapnel shells broke below them, the air wasclear enough for the boys to see everything that went on. Billy soonbegan to complain, as usual.
"Say, it's ten times worse than a three-ringed circus," he declared."You can't, with so many pilots dropping bombs while they circle around,possibly watch more than a small part of what's happening down there."
"Keep an eye on that mole along the edge of the water," advised Frank."That is where the submarines stay when they're in port, and it's beingpounded pretty lively, you notice."
"But why waste so much ammunition on an empty dock?" asked Billy.
"It's of importance that they destroy it," Frank explained. "I've got anidea they expect there may be several submerged boats alongside themole. Perhaps, when the Germans had word from Ostend that the terribleair fleet was headed this way they guessed that the main object of theraid was to destroy their undersea boats; so they would be apt to sinkthem of their own accord, and in the natural way."
They hovered over the spot, making short circles so they could witnessall that occurred. M. Le Grande had produced binoculars from some partof his person, and was keeping them glued to his eyes constantly.
No doubt, in time to come, the boy aviators would often picture thatwonderful scene in their minds when lying in their peaceful beds athome. With the buzzing of the flying seaplanes that darted to and fro,the sharp bursting of the shrapnel in furious volleys, and the heaviersound of the guns themselves far beneath, it certainly was an eventnever to be forgotten by those fortunate enough to be able to experienceit at first hand.
Now one of them would call the attention of his comrades to some specialfeature of the battle scene that had caught his eye; and hardly wouldthey rivet their gaze upon this before something else quite as thrillingcalled for notice.
They could even tell when the bombs, which the aviators were dropping,burst or failed in their intended mission. Long practice had made theairmen fairly accurate, though many of their missiles would be wasted,of course, and others go wide of the mark.
The sea wall was battered out of shape under the hurricane of bombs sentat it. Further on cars and motors were smashed when another welldirected shot burst in their midst, causing a wild stampede on the partof a company of gray-coated Bavarians. These men had been firing severalof the guns that could be elevated at an angle of almost fifty degrees,and were made especially with the idea of bringing down aircraft.
Several of the hostile airmen seemed to have marked out an oil tank asthe target of their aim. It was a small thing to strike at such adistance, and a number of shots had gone wild. As though provoked atsuch a waste of precious ammunition, one of the most venturesome of thepilots suddenly swooped downward.
"Oh! watch him!" cried Pudge. "Now there's going to be something doingworth seeing. I take off my hat to that chap for daring!"
He stopped talking then, for he had to actually hold his breath withadmiration and fear while watching the evolutions of the bold voyager ofthe air.
The birdman swung this way and that with an eccentric movement thateffectually balked the designs of the gunners to burst a shrapnel shellclose to him. His altitude changed constantly, so they were unable toregulate the fuses of their shells to meet the conditions.
It looked as though he were simply defying them to do their worst, orbegging a Taube of the enemy to risk rising to engage in a duel withhim.
"Why, he's right over their heads now, for you can hear all sorts ofrifles going off in volleys," said Billy. "Let's hope he keeps out oftheir range."
"Dories and dingbats, but doesn't it beat anything you ever heard tellof?" Pudge was heard to say as he leaned over and watched the excitingpicture; though he afterward declared it made him dizzy to see so manyseaplanes speeding this way and that like angry bees when the hive isbeing robbed.
"Watch!" called Frank, who guessed from the signs that the bold pilotmust by this time have reached a point where he was ready to have hisassistant make the next cast.
Yes, they could see that he was leaning over now and apparentlybalancing some object in his hand. The seaplane grew somewhat steadierin its motion, as though they were willing to take additional chances inorder to obtain stability.
"There it goes!" shouted Billy, after which they all stared, andlistened to ascertain what the result of the cast would be.
There came an upheaval, accompanied by a billow of flame and dense blacksmoke that rose in a cloud. The aviator had succeeded at great peril tohimself in dropping his bomb directly on the tank, with the result thata large quantity of precious gasoline or oil was lost to the enemy.
Even as high up as the _Sea Eagle_ chanced to be at the time, those whowere seated in the car could feel the wave of air concussion. Theseaplane from which the fatal bomb had been dropped was seen to rock andplunge very much as a ship would in a gale at sea; but the navigator whocontrolled the levers knew his business, and managed to keep fromturning turtle, a fate that all aviators view with unpleasantsensations.
Having accomplished his part of the raid, and earned the commendation ofhis superiors, the gallant airman began to climb the spiral staircaseagain, seeking a safer altitude. If all the others could do one-half aswell as he had this raid would not soon be forgotten by the defenders ofZeebrugge.
"Not a single Taube have we seen since starting out!" said Pudge.
"Well, can you blame them for keeping under cover?" demanded Billy."What could they do against thirty big seaplanes such as we've got withus? A rain of bombs would be the portion of any German pilot rash enoughto put up a fight. He'd be courting sure death if he as much as showedhis head."
In the beginning of the war the Germans were far superior to either theB
ritish or the French with their aircraft. Their Taubes and Zeppelinscaused much alarm in many a French and Belgian city as they flew overand dropped destructive bombs in the endeavor to terrorize the enemy.
That time, however, had gone by, and the assembling of this fleet of bigBritish seaplanes was a plain notice to the Kaiser that the day of hissupremacy of the air had passed into other hands, and that henceforthhis aviators were to find themselves outclassed for daring and skill.
Around and around the hostile planes circled, each spitting out fromtime to time a fresh supply of deadly missiles that rained destructionon the military works below. Of course, it would presently come to anend. Then the wonderful fleet, having exhausted their supply ofammunition, would take up the return journey, leaving to the defendersof Zeebrugge the unpleasant task of counting up their great losses, andtrying to conceal much of the truth, as all sides invariably do undersimilar conditions.
Frank was anticipating seeing some signal flying from the chiefseaplane, a sort of "cease firing" order. It was just at this time thatBilly discovered another exciting event being enacted, and called theattention of his companions to the fact.
"I've been watching that chap trying to hit that magazine for sometime," he called out. "He seems to be in hard luck, and now he's goingdown like the other one did to tackle the thing at closer quarters. Ionly hope he gets through as well as the first one did."
"Yes, there hasn't been a single accident worth mentioning so far,"declared Pudge. "I'd hate to see him dropped like a stone. Rafts andrattlesnakes, but listen to the row they're keeping up. They just seemto know what he's trying to do. Look at them running away from thatmagazine like rats deserting a sinking ship."
Swooping down, the Allies' aviator was seen to head almost directly overthe object of his particular attention. Calmly he measured the distancewith his practiced eye, while the pilot slowed the seaplane down to amoderate speed.
The magazine was seen to fly to a million pieces, whileup rose a vast cloud of smoke.--Page 217.]
They were in a perfect storm of bursting shrapnel, and at times thesmoke fairly concealed the moving machine. Once Pudge gave a low cry ofdismay, for he thought he had seen the seaplane plunging earthward awreck, when there would be no question about the fate of its venturesomeoccupants.
Then he took fresh heart as a puff of air blew the white and gray smokeaside, and it was discovered that the aeroplane was still afloat.
"Oh! why doesn't he do it?" cried Pudge. "It seems as if my heart wouldclimb up in my throat, I'm that worried. Throw now! There, he's going todo it, boys, don't you see? I wonder if that shot will be anybetter----"
Pudge did not finish his sentence, for just then there was a frightfulroaring sound. The magazine was seen to fly to a million pieces, whileup rose a vast cloud of smoke. The atmosphere was made to fairly quakeunder the tremendous concussion, so that Pudge clutched hold of Billy,who was alongside, as though he actually feared they would be overturnedand hurled into space.
Frank's heart also seemed to stand still, but it was not on account ofany fear for himself. When through the rising billow of black smoke hesaw that the daring author of this last blow at the invader's army wasapparently uninjured, Frank breathed freely again.
Boy Aviators with the Air Raiders: A Story of the Great World War Page 19