Action near Tarnopol

[Ira_Silverman]

In Peter Kilduff’s Book, GERMANY’S FIRST AIR FORCE 1914-1918, there is a chapter titled “Over the Russian Front.” A section of the chapter deals with events leading to the German capture of Tarnopol, specifically an air battle on 19 July 1917 as described by Uffz Wilhelm Bormann of Fl-Abt (A) 230 flying a Roland D.II Halfisch.

Bormann describes shelling of Zlota Gura (Golden Mountain) by 30.5 and 42 cm mortars, and the downing of a balloon in that region after he met “three single-seaters of Staffel Wulff “circling the Zlota Gura.”

I have tried to find additional information on this air activity, and any activity in the Zlota Gura – Tarnopol region. Such fine books as Michael Kihntopf’s VICTORY IN THE EAST and Norman Stone’s classic THE EASTERN FRONT 1914-1917 make little or no reference to air activity in the region.

Can any of our esteemed scholars point me in the direction of literature that describes the air war in the Russian-Polish corridor? First, second or third person doesn’t matter – right now I’d settle for any lead to follow.

I have a personal stake in this research. My wife’s family came from this area, in fact the family name is Zlotagura, and her grandfather and uncles used to tell stories of the Great War that are unfortunately lost to posterity. One interesting tale concerned her grandfather’s being impressed into the Russian Navy during the Russo-Japanese War (1905), fortunately too late for the Battle of Tsushima Strait.