CHAPTER TEN

SHIFTING WINDS

‘I have been flying at the frontlines for three years without having had a compassionate or homeland command. Now, I feel a certain exhaustion, especially after the heavy fighting in Flanders.’¹

HERMANN GÖRING

In World War I, airmen experienced little sense of relief at the end of ground fighting in their sectors. Air operations continued, even when new forward ground positions were established. And, of course, fighter pilots relentlessly attacked opponents trying to fly over their territory to gather information before the next battle. Accordingly, Hermann Göring‘s Jagdstaffel 27 fought hard during the final struggle at Ypres, even strafing Allied ground troops at Passchendaele on the morning of Tuesday, 30 October 1917.² But Staffel flights were not immediately affected by the successful British-Canadian capture of Passchendaele on 4 November,³ which ended the often rain-soaked Battle of Flanders.