OTT Daring Young Men Mission 1 Luftwachdienst – Sperrflug - 5th January 1916

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

Erinnerungen eines Fleiger:
I saw the first light of day at Kulm on the Vistula on 29^th July 1896. My father was a senior Leutnant in the 2^nd Pomeranian Jaeger Bn. At the age of 6 my father’s military duties took him to Colmer, Alsace. We transferred to Saint-Auld in Lorraine in 1905. I attended Karlsruhe Cadet School in Baden, I remained there until I transeferred to Cadet School Gross-Lichterfeldt near Berlin. I took my final examinations, the Reifeprufung, there.

In 1915 I was sent as a new ensign cadet, Fahnrich, to the 10^th Hanoverian Jaeger Bn. Shortly after, my transfer request to the newly formed Fleigertruppe was confirmed. After qualifying as an aerial observer, I was transferred to AFA 204, attached to FFA24 just returned from the Russian Front.

Feldfleiger-Abteilungen 24
ObLtn Kurt Wingens (P)
Ltn Friedrich Marnet (P)
Ltn Heinrich Immelman(P)
Ltn Horst Freiherr von Althaus (P)
Ltn Siegrfried Berthold (P)
Ltn Otto Parschau (P)

Artillerie-Feldfleiger-Abteilungen 204
ObLtn Karl Zeumer (P2)
Ltn Georg Frankl (O)
Ltn Theodore Croneiss (P2)
Ltn Simon Kafloc (O)

On January 5^th Feldfleiger-Abteilungen 24, joined with Artillerie-Feldfleiger-Abteilungen 204, at the airfield of Azonnes (we called it, Gebogene-winkel, after its distinctive shape when seen from the air), in support of 5^th Armee preparations for the forthcoming attack on Verdun. Our first mission was to be:

Luftwachtdeinst/Sperrefluge (Aerial Guard Duty/Barrier Flight)

We were called early to a briefing by the squadron leader, Oberleutnant Kurt Wingens.

“Gentlemen as you know our offensive will start shortly. We must protect the observation balloons, as they are vital in spotting likely enemy artillery positions and troop movements. We will divide the flight into 2 patrols. Horst you and Karl will take the northern balloon, whilst Theodore and I protect the southern balloon. We have orders that no Eindeckers are to cross over into enemy territory, therefore we will not pursue any enemy aircraft over no-mans land, is that understood? Good. Now let us get going before the damn French beat us to it. Simon, watch your arcs, test fire your guns as soon as we reach 1,000m and good hunting.”