Taube

I have a letter from my wife's great uncle telling how he was wounded at 4.30 am on Monday 23rd October 1916. He says that about 6 in his marquee were killed.

" It was early on Monday morning (23rd) when I got hurt. We had removed camp on Sunday up to Trones Wood and there were several taubes over while we were fixing it up. I suppose they must have spotted us 'I made a note of the fact'. We were all sleeping peacefully when about 4.30 am I heard two or three terrific explosions and showers of metal came through the marquee"

I notice that Taubes were unarmed and used for reconnaissance and that they were used until 1916.
Is it likely that the aircraft were in fact taubes and would you know what type of aircraft would have dropped the bombs?

Many thanks, Brian

[jado]

Brian:

Below is a quote from Col. John A.deVries book,
"Taube, Dove of War"

"The famous French airman, Lt. Garros, was responsible for one (shot down). *Armed only with a rifle, he did not hesitate to attack a Taube upon which a quick-firing gun was mounted."

"If machine-gun-equipped Taubes cannot be verified photographically, bomb-rack Taubes can. *Bomb-racks were developed, attached to Taubes and we have frequent and positive references to their use."

Hope this is some help.

VBR,
Joe

[rammjaeger]

Brian,

a Taube could maybe carry a bomb load but I am not aware of any "Tauben" (singular; die Taube; plural: die Tauben) in action on the Western front in late 1916. This kind of aircraft had shown its inferiority already in 1914 but English soldiers did still use the term "Taube" for German aircraft.

Are you able to determine the location of the so-called Trones Wood? Next bigger village or town? Part of the Front? etc.

VBR
Rammjaeger


*

Many thanks for your replies. The quotes Joe, clearly suggest that they were not, in fact, unarmed and could have dropped the bombs themselves. Rammjaeger's comment that British troops used 'Taube' as a generic term and that they were not used on the Western Front that late leaves the question open still. Fascinating stuff!
Trones Wood was (is) near Guillemont, south of Delville Wood.

[Tailspin]

The Parisians used to refer to German bombers as "the Evening Taube" regardless of what type they were flying. This was simply because Taube was a relatively well known German type. Later in the war, German multi-engined bombers were called Gothas despite the fact that many of them were not, in fact, Gothas. This tendency has continued. Russian aircraft are generally called Migs without regard to their actual manufacture. It's just one of the little factors that complicate this kind of research.

[Rick]

TS (as opposed to BS), *

* *In sticking with your subject and relating it to WWI combat, in 1917 most British a/c were "Vickers" while later they were all "Sopwith" to the Germans. *Likewise to the Brits, in 1917 all German fighters were "Albatros" - in 1918 they magically all became "Fokker".

* * *And again, for the Germans all French 2-seater aircraft were either "Caudron" or "Farman", *while all scouts were either "Nieuport" or "Spad".

* A gross generality I agree, but I am tryng to say I agree with your point. * * *R.

[Tailspin]

Rick,

TS happens to be my real first and middle initials! Cool! We appear to agree on this matter. Again, it's nothing new and it still continues, adding another step (or several) to doing research.

Tom

[DavidErrol]

brian:
More than likely, the "Taube" or whatever it was, merely observed construction activity and artillery was used on the coordinates very early the next morning. There is actually nothing in the quoted portion of the letter about an airplane dropping a bomb(s).

DE

[jado]

Brian:

As a follow-up from de Vries book, pg 14:

"Officially, Taubes were declared "not usable for Front service" in December 1914."

Would seem the generic name explanation fits

VBR
Joe