Ground Attack aircraft

[smelty]

Hi,

i would like to hear peoples views on the importance of ground attack on the ground victories in the latter stages of the war. Did it have a great effect on ground battles?

Thanks

[Adrian Roberts]

There was a thread on this a couple of months ago. Its a few pages back, so the quickest way to find it would be to use the search facility (top of this forum page) and enter the keyword 'strafe'. I've cut and pasted my own contribution, below, but many other contribitions were far more erudite:

The British definitely made great use of low level strafing of German troops, using mainly single seaters such as the Camel, in the desperate attempt to stem the German advance in March 1918. Raymond Collishaw (fourth highest scoring British Empire ace) took part in this and gives an account in his book "Air Command". He quotes a German officer's account of how successful this was; the Camels flew so low he had to jump aside to avoid being hit by one, and one of his comrades was run over by the wheels of another as he lay on the ground.

The Sopwith Salamander was an armoured ground attack version of the Snipe, but it was only in the test stage when the war ended. The Germans therefore, with the AEG C.IV and Junkers J1 were well in advance of us in the development of specialised Ground Attack types.

The word 'Strafe' comes from the German word for 'destroy', as in the motto of the German Army (or possibly Navy) Airship crews: "Gott Strafe England" (or something like that).

One of my references says that "on 6th September [1917] twenty four Halberstadt CL.II's wrought havoc among Allied troops crossing the Somme bridges... and it was largely due to this type that the Germans were able to make such an effective counter attack at Cambrai on 30th November." Does anyone have any more info on the 6th Sept action - could it be the same as those that we've already mentioned?

Adrian

[steve fuller]

To support Adrians post, Moore's book on Op Micheal (Mar 1918) makes the point that the Infantry would have been in an even worse condition if the British planes hadnt have been so lively, so their contribution to the initial defensive phases was very useful. I recall a passage saying that the Highlanders lifted their kilts so their planes wouldnt strafe them by mistake. Beats flying a flag I suppose!

[John S]

Article in latest edition of 'The Great War' by a German infantry man at 3rd Ypres.

"The roads were chocked with crowds in utter confusion trying to get away .... . Enemy aeroplanes reaped a terrible harvest mowing down men and animals by the hundreds"

Seems to suggest that strafing was quite effective.

John