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battle of arras
T
he
d
readed
‘r
ed
B
aron
’
During “Bloody April”, in the skies above Arras, Manfred von Richthofen
downed 22 British aircraft raising his official tally to 52 kills. As the
‘Red Baron’, described by some as distant, unemotional and rather
humourless, he was rightly acclaimed by both sides as an aviator and
tactician ‘par excellence’.
In late May 1917 many of the predatory Albatros machines moved to
the north and the skies above Arras became quieter. The ‘Red Baron’ and
his ‘Flying Circus’ moved on to create havoc elsewhere. But his days were
numbered. Two months later he sustained a serious head wound following
an air to air tussle with Captain Donald Cunnell of No. 20 Squadron,
who was himself shot down and killed a few days later. Richthofen, after
a number of operations, was back in the air some months later, against
doctor’s orders, but it is thought that his head wound caused lasting
damage as well as a change in temperament. Richthofen was killed in
an air battle on 21
st
April 1918, while flying over the Somme. There
continues to be controversy over who fired the fatal shot and it is possible
that he succumbed to ground fire.
The ‘Red Baron’, although fatally wounded, managed to retain
sufficient control to land his red tri-plane in a field. A medic from the
Australian Medical Corps, who was first on the scene, reported that one
of Richthofen’s final words was “kaputt” thereby ending a reign of terror
by a legend of WWI with an overall tally of 80 kills.