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[Page 5]
We were not long in settling down to our daily routines. Route marches & gun drill were daily gone through while on Friday 7th April we were "gassed" – after having been fitted up with gas helmets. On Saturday the 8th April came our first excitement. A German aeroplane was observed at about 2 PM approaching as very low altitude from the south. Little notice was taken of it till it was right overhead when the black crosses could be plainly made out. Excitement reached its highest pitch when the plane was observed to turn abruptly & come down in a plowed field to the west of the village. There was a rush of soldiers to the spot. The aviator a short sturdy German was soon the centre of an inquisitive throng until at length he was marched away to the guard room. Attention was then turned to the plane which its tail in the air had buried its nose in the old trench which had been dug by the French during the retreat from Mons. It proved to be one of the latest of the German monoplanes a Fokker bearing the date March 16th 16. This was quite new & this may have been its first trip. Ill luck had favoured it & its occupant as something having gone wrong with the engines it was forced to descend & was now a valuable prize in the hands of the British. It was the picture of speed & the machine gun fixed to the forepart of the box just to the rear of the propeller was the object of a good deal of attention.