The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1918-09-13
US. AVIAT0RS
INSUPREMACY
New Squadrons Arranged for
Field Work Cover Them
selves With Glory,
(John Edwin Nevin.)

Washington. Sept. 1871. n. So
american aviators gained the suprem-
acy in thaT air in the fighting be'
tween the Meuse and Moselle. which
Iis still proceeding. New squadrons
especially organized for work with the
First field army. covered themselves
with glory. Flying in mixed machines
i-Amerfcan, British and French-these
men, nearly all of them products OF
American training fields. gave remark
| able aid to the American artillery. II
was due entirely to their work that
the American artillery was able to
silence the big guns Of the Germans.
while their work in spotting the nests
of machine guns enabled American
artillery to wipe them out. thus keep
ing the American casualty list down
TO remarkable small figure.
This, too, at n really remarkably low
cost to the American attacking forces.
While there has been no direct men,
tion of casualties in the very meagre
reports received here,the latter has been
couched in language which demon
strates that the losses of our forces
have been even less in their operation
than that in the early stages of the
recent big British drive In Flanders,
where the losses were far below the
number of prisoners taken, including
casualties of every nature.
The casual reference to the fact that
American cavalry are reported to be
operating on the road north of the
Bois Communaux was declared by
army experts to be most illuminating.
1t indicated, they said, that the onrush
of the Americans had been so swift
that the fighting now was in the open.
with cavalry being used to maintain
contact with the enemy. This in itself
must spell confusion to the enemy.
The early batch Of prisoners taken was
from the Prussian landwehr forces.
who up to one year ago. were held
as. reserve forces. While not as for
midable as the original Prussian guard.
these troops for the last twelve months
have been used as the chief support of
the picked German shock troops and
are good fighters.
Entente army experts today declared
that if Gen. Pershing's advance is
maintained he will be able to
wrest from the Germans the control
of the invaluable coal and iron basin
of Briey. In the hands Of the allies
this particular section would immedi-
ately begin to yield much badly needed
coal and iron, while at the same time
it would diminish Germany's supply
of these so badly needed STAPLES.
Members of the house military az
fairs committee learned of this fact on
their visit to the offices of the chief of
staff today. Although Gen. March was
unable to receive them, his aides ex-
planned the situation, and they carried I,
away from the conference a feeling |
that the American air service Is about |
I'd take its rightful place In the great
American war machine which is the
pride of the allied nations.
The members were told that the gen.
eral situation was progressing salts
factoriy." Naturally, objectives were
not explained, but the reports of the
work which already has been accom-
plished given To these representatives,
most of whom personally inspected the
battle terrain, impressed them as Won
derfuI. They insisted that when all
the details can be made public the
American people will have just cause
for pride in the achievement of their
army in its first major operation.