German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.
Der KanalStraße von CalaisThe English Channel and the Strait of CalaisReverse:Panorama des westlichen Kriegsschauplatzes 1914/15 Von Arras bis Ostende.Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegsschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.Panorama of the western theater of operations 1914/15 from Arras to Ostend. The panoramic postcard series includes nine sections, with their No. 400-408 the entire western battlefield from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.Nr. 408Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.
"On the 24th [June 1918], after shooting down a kite-balloon over the Lys, at Warneton, to the south of Ypres—incidentally the observer stayed on in the basket to fire at me with a small machine-gun, jumped too late, and was caught up and enveloped in the flaming gas-bag—I was clumsily attacked by a Hannoveraner that dived upon me from on high, firing as it came. Carried away by its speed, it overshot me and had no time to turn before I got into position on its tail, and opened fire at point-blank range. It broke up in the air and crashed near the Bois de Ploegsteert. This mixed brace, my ninth and tenth victories, had cost me six 1 mm. bullets. . . ."
Excerpt from Flying in Flanders, a memoir by Willy Coppens, Belgium's greatest ace in World War I with 37 victories, all but two of the victims observation balloons. After repeated attempts to bring down a balloon, Coppens was finally successful on May 8, 1918 after being provided with 20 French incendiary bullets, bullets he used sparingly. Observation balloons were tethered like a kite, and heavily defended with anti-aircraft guns and fighter planes. The Hannoveraner was likely either a Hannover CL.II or CL.III, a two-seater with a distinctive biplane tail, unusual for a smaller plane. Warneton, Belgium is on the Lys River and the French border, about 13 km south of Ypres.
Flying in Flanders by Willy Coppens, page 184, publisher: Ace Books, publication date: 1971
1918-06-24, 1918, June, Hannoveraner, Ypres, Lys, Warneton, Ploegsteert, observation balloon
