Hans Roser was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 air observer during the First World War. He was a member of the Feldflieger-Abteilung with the rank of Fliegerhauptmann.

On 25 July 1915 he was shot down by the British pilot Lanoe Hawker

Lanoe Hawker

Lanoe George Hawker VC, DSO was a British flying ace, with seven credited victories, during the First World War. He was the first British flying ace, and the third pilot to receive the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded...

, east of the legendary Hill 62.

The fight

In the beginning of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, fire-arms were not common on airplanes. Sometimes pilots tried to shoot at each other with rifles and guns but usually this was too difficult and useless. Later the Germans invented the interrupter gear that allowed a machine gun to fire through the propeller, but at the time of Roser's death the British had not developed a similar system. So Lanoe Hawker put a Lewis Gun

Lewis Gun

The Lewis Gun is a World War I–era light machine gun of American design that was perfected and widely used by the British Empire. It was first used in combat in World War I, and continued in service with a number of armed forces through to the end of the Korean War...

 at the side of his plane firing at an angle forwards and sideways, so that it could not shoot the blades of his own propeller.

On 25 July 1915 three German planes flew over Allied territory. Hawker was flying alone, but took on all three. The first plane he tried to shoot at was seen to spin downwards but it is not certain whether it crashed. He successfully hit the second forcing it to make an emergency landing. The third plane was less fortunate: it was shot and fell out of the sky, burning and smoking. Roser fell (or jumped, this is not clear) out of the plane and fell to earth. Some reports say that he was captured alive and died later, but this is extremely unlikely as he fell from over a thousand metre.

Hawker was rewarded with a Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

. Hawker died a year later (24 November 1916), after he had been shot down by the German's Red Baron.

Nowadays

Hans Roser is the only German buried at the Sanctuary Wood Cemetery

Sanctuary Wood Cemetery

Sanctuary Wood Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery for the dead of the First World War, 5 km east of Ypres, Belgium in the commune of Zillebeke. Located off the main Ieper-Menin Road on Canadalaan...

. His is the only square gravestone, all other gravestones have a bow shape.

In the register of Sanctuary Wood there is an inscription in English: "He couldn't fly without a plane". Furthermore, there are German sentences with more information on the place and date of death and how he was shot.

A Special Memorial at Sanctuary Wood remembers Hans Roser:

"The young pilot, from West Germany, who did not even fight went to the front, unknowing. He has been one of too many, his grave still stands between thousands of others."