London, Oct, 10.
For the first time four British planes have carried out daylight reconnaissance flights the whole way along the German frontier from France to the North Sea, says "Eyewitness" (Mr. A. G. Clifford), who is. with the British air force in France, The planes want to investigate the latest reports received by headquarters from across the border in regard to the evacuation of important cities, big troop movements near \Aix-la-Chapelle, significant. concentrations of aircraft, intensive building of fortifications near the Luxembourg frontier, and many. other interesting developments, The results' of these British reconnaissance flights are now being studied by experts, and it is understood that a series of photographs taken by two of the planes are expected to be of the utmost value.
The first two ran into bad weather and flew for much of the time at about 6,000 feet. Passing the southernmost tip of Luxembourg, where French artillery was pounding the fringes of the Siegfried Line below them, they continued to make their observations, dodging from one gap in the clouds to the next.
'At Coblence, German anti-aircraft gunners heard' them and opened fire, presumably judging the range and the direction by sound. Shells screamed through the clouds and burst all round them, but the planes were not hit and held straight on along their course, German gunners telephoned ahead to other batteries, and when the British planes reached, Sieburg, there was another barrage of anti-aircraft fire awaiting them. This too, however, they passed through unscathed, and held on along the Belgian border over Aix-la-Chapelle. Soon they saw the Rhine turn west and disappear into Holland, and then the weather made it impossible to see any more. They flew on to the North Sea coast of Germany. Then, carefully avoiding Holland, they went safely home. to landing field in England, where they were expected.
The other pair of planes took off before dawn, and were already well over. Germany when the sun rose above the hills to the east of the the. Rhine. They were favoured by better weather, and were able to take the photographs they were sent out to get—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.