The Struma sector of the Macedonia Front presented problems that pilots never dreamed of on the flying fields of France. The marshes that formed a long sector of the front were infested with malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and illness took a heavy toll on both sides. Fliers found the intense summer heat unbearable–and it caused problems for their flying machines as well. During the summer, missions could be flown only during the early morning or late evening, and even then the heat was so intense that pilots found wearing a flight suit intolerable. Aerial photography proved nearly impossible because the heat melted the gelatin on the photographic glass plates. During the winter months, the thermometer plummeted, again resulting in numerous hardships for personnel and equipment. Moreover, the thin mountain air, with its strong gusts, eddies and unpredictable drafts, made flying hazardous year-round. Many aircraft smashed against the sharp crags and cliffs because pilots lost control and were unable to regain it in time to avoid disaster.

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Lieutenant Eschwege was 21 when he arrived in Macedonia in the summer of 1916, assigned to the provisional FFA Xanthi in Bulgaria. Unlike on the Western Front, German aircraft in Macedonia were greatly outnumbered. Allied forces in the Struma sector boasted 160 French/Serbian aircraft, two RNAS wings, Nos. 2 and 3, and two Royal Flying Corps (RFC) squadrons, Nos. 17 and 24, against three FFA units, Nos. 1 and 30, and FFA Xanthi. At times the Germans were outnumbered 10-to-1. Young Eschwege, who was originally assigned a Fokker Eindecker as his mount, was told that he was responsible for protecting all German aircraft as well as intercepting any identified Allied aircraft along 37 miles of the Struma River and 62 miles of the Aegean coast. He was also supposed to protect the Bulgarian 10th Division from aerial attacks.

Eschwege–called “Rudi” by his comrades and often in official FFA reports as well–started out in his new role with vigor. Shortly after he arrived, he intercepted a flight of Henri Farmans, based on the Greek island of Thasos, that had bombed the Xanthi railroad depot. He fired on one of the bombers, destroying its engine with the Fokker’s synchronized machine gun. The biplane glided into the Aegean Sea, flipped over and sank. Troops at a Bulgarian observation post witnessed the action and reported seeing the Farman crash into the sea. By the time Eschwege entered his victory claim, however, the Bulgarian unit had been transferred and could not be located to confirm the victory, and Eschwege’s claim was denied. Such are the fortunes of a fighter pilot.

By that time, it had become obvious to the Germans that Xanthi, located in Greece 50 miles from the Struma River, was too far from the action, and they needed an airfield close by. They chose Drama, only 20 miles from the Struma, and Eschwege was transferred to FFA 30 at Drama.

Eschwege’s first shot at combat with his new unit came on October 25, 1916, when an RNAS two-seater Nieuport 12 buzzed over the mountains, shooting up Bulgarian troops in the area around Drama. The crew was apparently unaware of the new German airfield and whipped around the region at rooftop level, with the observer firing at any target he passed. The Nieuport was flying so low that its crew failed to notice Eschwege had taken off until he fired a short burst at them. The British gunner returned the German pilot’s fire, but at that point Eschwege’s gun jammed. He managed to clear it, but the gun jammed again after three shots, so the German pilot veered away from the Nieuport and cleared it again. It jammed once more after five shots.

During that one encounter, Eschwege dived on the Nieuport 23 times, getting off a few shots between jams. Finally he hit the British plane’s engine, forcing the two-seater down to a crash landing behind Bulgarian lines for his first confirmed victory. There was no doubt about the validity of his claim, given the tangible evidence of his victim’s wreckage. After the gun-jamming incident, Eschwege always loaded his machine-gun belts himself. As he put it, “One learns wisdom through suffering.”

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