“BIGGLES” OF THE CAMEL SQUADRON

by Capt. W. E. Johns

XIII. SCOTLAND FOR EVER! (Pages 232 – 249)

Biggles has a leave pass, which surprises him, as there are rumours of a great German offensive. He snuggles lower in the cockpit “as the March air was bitterly cold” and comes in to land with his patrol, consisting of Algy and the Professor. As he gets out of his Camel, Biggles is suddenly seized by two “grinning, mud-coated German soldiers”. There is a crowd of Germans beyond. Algy and the Professor manage to tear wildly away in their aircraft as they had let Biggles land first. “To say that Biggles was stunned by the swift and incredible turn of events is to put it mildly. For a full minute – a long time for one accustomed to think and act with the speed of light – his brain reeled under the shock as he strove to grasp what had happened. Slowly the staggering truth dawned upon him. The presence of the German troops on the aerodrome could mean only one thing. The great German attack had been launched while he was in the air. The British Line had been smashed, and the enemy was pressing forward with speed”. Johns comments that Biggles did not know, of course, that the same thing had happened at several British aerodromes. “Never was a retreat more sudden and overwhelming in its effect than that of the great Cambrai retreat of March, 1918”. Taken to his C.O.’s office, Biggles finds a German officer in the C.O.’s chair and he is interviewed, but Biggles will only give his name and rank. Biggles hears planes overhead and recognises the sound of the engines as British Bentley engines rather than German Benz or Mercedes engines. The aerodrome is bombed and the German officer is buried under debris. Biggles gets outside and recognises Algy’s plane by its number as it bores down, guns crackling. Biggles knows the direction where the British troops would be, but he would have to pass through the advancing German Lines to get to them. Biggles decides to use petrol cans to set the ammunition hut alight, so that the ammunition doesn’t fall into the hands of the enemy. Going back to the C.O.’s office, he finds the German officer coming round and going for his pistol, which is fired at Biggles. Biggles “stooped at the end of his jump, snatched up the loose leg of a chair, and without hesitation brought it down on the German’s head. “You hold that, and lie still for a bit!” he growled. Biggles climbs into a gaping hole in the ceiling with the intention of lying low for a while. He is only just in time as a party of Germans enter the building and take up positions at the windows. They all come under shell fire from the British guns as the British counter-attack. As Biggles hides in the darkness, two German soldiers climb up into the roof space in order to fire a maxim-gun through a quickly hacked hole in the roof. Realising the machine gun is holding up the British advance, Biggles attacks the two soldiers with a broken length of rafter. Grabbing the machine gun he then fires it down into the room. “It is impossible to describe the scene of confusion that followed. Biggles, quite beside himself now that the fighting fever was upon him, traversed the floor from end to end in long bursts. The Germans flee and then Scottish soldiers come into the room. Biggles is just able to stop them from throwing a grenade into his roof space. “Did you silence that gun up there?” asked the Highlander. “I did,” replied Biggles. “I had to do something about it. You see, I’m going on leave to-day, and I was afraid I should miss my train. Scotland for ever!”

GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN THIS BOOK (Pages 251 - 254)

At the back of the first edition of this book is a catalogue entitled

COMPLETE LIST OF SUNDIAL EDITIONS

SPRING, 1934

JOHN HAMILTON LTD.

32 BLOOMSBURY ST.

LONDON.

W.C.1

The catalogue runs to 28 pages.