If the men be steeled against
the bomb attack, it is almost impossible to resist the
inclination to take a shot when the airman, swooping down,
ventures so temptingly near as to render him an enticing target
almost impossible to miss. As a rule, however, the observer is
on the alert for such a betrayal of a force's existence. When
the bomb fails to scatter the enemy, or the men are proof against
the temptation to fire a volley, a few rounds from the
aeroplane's machine gun often proves effective. If the copse
indeed be empty no harm is done, beyond the abortive expenditure
of a few rounds of ammunition: if it be occupied, the fruits of
the manoeuvre are attractive. Cunning is matched against
cunning, and the struggle for supremacy in the art of craftiness
is keen.
The French Flying Corps have had recourse to an ingenious ruse
for accomplishing two ends--the one to draw concealed artillery
fire, and the other to pre-occupy the airmen. Two German aerial
scouts observed a French machine flying at a somewhat venturesome
height over their masked artillery. Divining the reason for the
hostile intrepidity they gave chase.
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