The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-01-20

had a superiority of 324,000 in rifle | strength. Due to American arrivals the allied strength exceeded that of the German in June and was more than 600,O00 above it in November |
 In the battle of St. Mihiel 550,000 | Americans were engaged, as compar- ed with about 100000 on the north | ern side in the battle of Gettysburg. The artillery fired more than 1,000,- 900 shells in four hours, which is the most intense concentration of ar tillery fire recorded in history. The Meuse-Argonne battle lasted 47 days. during which 1,200, ,o00 Amer ican troops were engaged. The American battle losses of the war were 50,00O killed and 236,0o0 | wounded. They were heavy when counted in terms of lives and suffer enormous price paid by the nations at whose sides we fought. When,war was declared the United | States had 55 training airplanes of
 which 51~were classified as obso- lete and the other as obsolescent. | lies made the designs of their planes
 available to us and before the end | of the hostilit3es furnished us from
 their own manufacture $500 service planes.
 Aviation training schools in the
 United States graduated S602 men
 from elementary courses and 402S from advanced courses. More than
 50cO pilots and observers were sent | overseas.
 The total personnel of the air ser
 vice, officers. students and enlisted
 men, increased from 1900 at the out
 break of the war to nearly 200, 900
 at it's close.
 There were produced in the United
 States to November 30, 1918, more than 5000 training planes and more
 than 16,000 training engines.
 The De Haviland-4, observation
 and day bombing plane, swas the only
 tity production. Before the signing : of the armistice 3227 had been com . p1eted and 1885 shipped overseas. The plane was successfully used at the
 front for three months. The production of the 12-cylinder ! Liberty engine was Amexica's chief contribution to aviation. Before the armistice 1s,5 574 had been completed. forces, and 1925 delivered to the al- 5 lies.
 The first flyers in action wearing
 the American uniform were members s of the Lafayette Escadrille, who were > transferred to the American service :, | in December, 1917. , The American air forces at the f front front grew from three squadrons ir November Il the 45 Squadrons hat n ], an equipment of 7AO planes. Of 269S planes sent to the zone O y 66l, or nearly one-tourth, were O. II American manufacture. American air squadrons played i'm
 portant roles in the battles of Cha Il tau-Thierry. St.Mihiel and the Mouse
 Argonne. They brought down in com bat 755 enemy planes, while thei C own losses of planes numbered onl.
 357
 e When war was declared the Unite, is States had sufficient light artillery t
 equip army of 5OO,00O men, ant > shortly found itself confronted witt -e the problem of preparing to eai1i, n 5,000,000 men.
 To meet the situation it was de ss c1ded in June, 1917, to allot our gun u 10 training purposes and to equi
 our forces in France with art:Iler IS conforming to the French and Brit T. lsh standard calibers.
 9- It was arranged that we shoul
 purchase from the French and Sri, s lsh the artillery needed for our fir: <, divisions and ship them in retur E equivalent amounts of steel. -coppe U, 5 and other raw materials, so that the F. us in their own factor5es or give u
 guns out of their stocks and replac m them by new ones made from ol Tt materials.
 d Up to the end of April. 1s1s,th SC number of complete artillery unit le produced in American plants wa
 more than 5000, or equal to all thos sd purchased from the French and Bri 1- lsh during the war. e The number of rounds of comple r. artillery ammunition produced Id American plants was in excess of 20 " 100000 as compared with 5000, 0,
 rounds secured from the French ar Ie British.
 or In the first 20 months after u
 declaration of. war by each count til the British did better than we did m the production of light artillery. an Tt we excelled them in producing hea , Id artillery and both light and heavy a
 munition.
 ns So far as the allies were concerne mt the European war was in Iearge nfea
 ure fought with American powder ar ns high explosives.