On April 21, 1918, Richthofen was fatally shot, whilst flying low above the Somme Valley, near Amiens while fighting in France. He was 25 years old. He was chasing an enemy plane when a bullet passed through his chest. He then made a smooth landing, in a field on a hill near the Bray-Corbie road, just north of Vaux-sur-Somme. His Fokker Dr.I was not damaged by the landing. One witness, Gunner George Ridgway, said that Richthofen was still alive when he and other Australian soldiers reached the plane, but he died moments later. Another eyewitness, Sergeant Ted Smout, said that Richthofen's last word was "kaputt" ("finished"), immediately before he died.