The advances of the war in the air between 1914 and 1917 were enormous and by April 1917
had resulted in two different aviation strategies for the British and the Germans.
Those strategies clashed head on this month, and the result was Bloody April.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War special episode about Bloody April.
The Battle of Arras, the first British offensive of 1917 on the Western Front, began April
9th.
It was the first large scale offensive they had begun since the five-month Battle of the
Somme began last July 1st, though they did have smaller offensives in progress on the
Mesopotamian, Palestine, and Macedonians Fronts.
For the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service, the Battle of Arras did not begin
April 9th, but the week before.
They had been hard at work on photographic reconnaissance, spotting for their artillery,
and just flying air patrols to deny the Germans the opportunity to see the British build up
and preparations for the battle.
Those three tasks were part of Major General Hugh “Boom” Trenchard’s strategy of
the offensive.
The primary goal was to support the PBI - the poor bloody infantry - with recon and spotting.
The secondary goal was denying the same to the enemy.
This was the strategy that the RFC had followed at the Somme and during the first phases of
that battle, the new British and French fighters had given the British the advantage in the
air.
They flew the Airco DH2, the Sopwith Pup, the Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, and the Nieuport
11, 16, and 17.
By the end of that battle, however, after legendary German ace Oswald Boelcke was moved
from the Verdun sector to the Somme and his teams were equipped with the new Albatros
D.1 fighters, the pendulum of superiority swung back over to the Germans.
The Germans, for pretty much the whole war, had found themselves outnumbered in the sky.
So, out of necessity, the Luftstreitkräfte - the German Air Service - followed a defensive
strategy, and one that sometimes went so far as to forbid pilots to fly past the German
front lines.
A positive result of this was that when German pilots had engine failure, which was a really
common occurrence, they glided down to German held territory and could be back in the air
the next day, while for the allies engine failure often meant becoming a POW.
The key to making a defensive strategy work was the frugal employment of fighter pilots.
At Verdun in 1916, Boelcke had worked out a system to save the strength of fighter pilots.
He had communication set up with units at the front to alert him when they spotted French
planes.
And he had his unit, Fliegerabteilung 62, organized into packs when they attacked.
These two tactics meant that FA 62 only flew when there were targets available, economizing
their force, and had local air superiority when they did thanks to the packs.
The whole German Air Service soon used these tactics.
In August 1916, Boelcke organized the first dedicated fighter squadron - called the Jagdstaffel,
or Jasta.
He also promoted his “Dicta Boelcke”, the eight rules for fighter pilots:
1.
Try to secure the upper hand before attacking.
If possible, keep the sun behind you 2.
Always continue with an attack you have begun 3.
Open fire only at close range, and then only when the opponent is squarely in your sights
4.
You should always try to keep your eye on your opponent and never let yourself be deceived
by ruses 5.
In any type of attack, it is essential to assail your opponent from behind
6.
If your opponent dives on you, do not try to get around his attack, but fly to meet
it 7.
When over the enemy's lines, always remember your own line of retreat
8.
Tip for Squadrons: In principle, it is better to attack in groups of four or six.
If fights break up into a series of single combats, pay attention that several comrades
would not go after one opponent
Brian: But these were not the only important rules for pilots and airplanes!
What?
Who is this?
Flo, did you leave the door open again?
Relax Indy, it’s Brian from Real Engineering.
I was just doing a video on the a erodynamics and physics of WW1 airplanes.
You know the rules of physics that the pilots also needed to abide to during the war.
That sounds really cool, Brian I will sure to check that out, I always wondered how these
birds would behave in the air.
(Looking to the camera) and you guys should also check out Brian’s video over on his
channel!
Thanks, Brian and see you around.
Yup, good luck!
Anyhow, Boelcke would only lead his “cubs”, which were handpicked junior pilots in the
squadron, in the air for five more weeks before his death, but the Lu ftstreitkräfte followed
his example the remainder of the war.
Boelcke’s best-known student was also the best known fighter pilot of this war or any
other: Freiherr Manfred Albrecht von Richthofen known today as the Red Baron.
He took command of Jasta 11 in the Arras sector in January 1917.
The upgraded and improved Albatross D.III fighters had arrived as well, and this gave
the Germans the performance edge.
The RFC’s only new addition since the Somme was the SPAD VII, so their other equipment
was somewhat obsolete.
By April, Jasta 11 shared an aerodrome with three other squadrons about 50km from the
British lines at Arras.
The Germans had 7 or 8 other squadrons scattered around the sector.
The British had dozens of squadrons there and the stage was set for the contest between
the strategy of the offensive and the strategy of the defensive.
The result was Bloody April.
By the end of the month, the RFC had lost 245 aircraft, with 211 airmen either dead
or missing, and 108 becoming prisoners of war.
That month the average life expectancy of a British replacement pilot was 11 days.
In total, the RFC lost about a quarter of its entire strength and was pushed to the
breaking point.
The Germans inflicted these losses at a cost of just 66 planes, making for nearly a 4-1
kill ratio.
Jasta 11 alone was responsible for 89 kills, 30% more than the entire total of German planes
lost, and the Red Baron increased his kill total from 31 to 52 during the month, including
four air-to-air victories on the 29th.
Here is a quote from his book Der Rote Kampfflieger which mentions both Lothar, the youn ger Richthofen
who was also a flying Ace, and their father on that day at the airfield:
“At half past nine he [Father Richthofen] came to our aerodrome.
We just happened to have returned from an expedition.
My brother [Lothar] was the first to climb out of his machine, and he greeted the old
gentleman with the words: "Good day, Father.
I have just shot down an Englishman."
Immediately after, I also climbed out of my machine and greeted him "Good day, Father,
I have just shot down an Englishman."
The old gentleman felt very happy...“
So it would seem on the surface that the Germans won Bloody April, but that’s not really
the case, because even in the face of the deadliest of the German airmen, the RFC succeeded
in its mission to provide the PBI with up-to-date photographic recon and artillery spotting,
and the battle was fought in the skies over the German lines, not the British.
Okay, that might be small consolation to the British aircrews, but it made a real difference
on the ground, and from this month onward air superiority began to swing back toward
Britain as the Sopwith Triplane, the Bristol F2B, and by the summer the Sopwith Camel - that’s
what Snoopy flew - and the RAF SE5 made their appearances.
As a side note here, one of the German pilots lost during Bloody April was Wilhelm Frankl
of Jasta 4.
With 20 kills, he was the highest scoring Jewish ace for the Germans in the war.
Anyhow, April was a tough month for the British everywhere.
Casualties at Arras were over 100,000 men, in the Middle east they lost at Gaza, in Macedonia
they lost at Lake Doiran, and at sea they lost over 800,000 tons of shipping to German
submarines, the highest monthly total of the war.
And the war would continue to ever increase in intensity and as it did so, there would
come months Britain would suffer greater numbers of losses in the air, but at no other time
would they suffer as great a fraction of total strength lost than during Bloody April.
We would like to thank H Lynn Keith for helping us out with the research for this episode.
If you want to learn more about the aerodynamics of WW1 airplanes, be sure to check out Brian’s
channel Real Engineering and his video he just published.
Don’t forget to subscribe, see you next time.