Evening star., 1940-06-08
By EVE CURIE.

PARIS, June 8.-There is a fine
definition-a technical definition
for a certain kind of work in the
French Army: Mission of sacri-
flee" 1t does not mean that the
mission Is hopeless one. It means
that whatever happens the mission
must be fulfilled.
And here comes the motto: More
planes" We must have more planes,
more fighter planes. to protect all
these vital. indispensable missions.
We must have more fighter planes
for the policing Of our sky, of our
land, of our sea. More fighter planes
to assist and protect our infantry.
More fighter planes to defend our
towns against the attacks by air,
more fighter planes to destroy the
German air force which is threat
ening not only France, not only
Europe, but the whole world as we'll.
More fighter planes at once.
Quality Against Quantity.
I have lived two days running on
the airfields behind the front with
the pilots of our fighting squadrons.
The situation can be summed up in
three words: Quality against guam
tity. Quality is on the Allied side.
Quantity on the German side. So
great, so overwhelming is the quail
ity of our men and of some of the
planes they use that in spite of
everything, quality has been vic
torious up until now in this unequal
fight. Everywhere I have found
courage and enthusiasm, based not
on childish illusion, but on facts.
Early in the morning on an i'm
provised airfield still full of mist the
young captain of squadron was
supervising the installation of his
beloved planes-French Devoitines
520-and of his men. The group of
planes had been chased for weeks
from airf1eld to airfield by the Ger
man bOmbers. To preserve its in
cognito the group had had to move
quite often. Each time the men of
the squadron are trying to make
themselves at home. They hide the
camouf1aged planes as well as pos
sible. They install anti-aircraft de-
fense. They dig underground Shelf
ers for the pilots. In the shelter
I saw the small hunks where the
men sleep and the pennon of the
squadron; red and white triangle
with the head of a black cat en-
broidered on the white part.
The gramophone and some records
were already on the tiny deal table
Later on there will be a picture of
the "marraine' on the wall. The
"marraine' being Modeleine Carroll
it will look nice There will also
be list of the victories; % of them
And list of the losses: one man
killed, one wounded. seven missing.
Three Victories for One Loss.
"The proportion is about three
victories for one loss" said Capt
Rog. "Of this proportion we are
proud. Our men are terribly good
both skilled and gifted, Our planes
are extremely good, too But we
could do with more of them. And
we must have more anti aircraft
guns. The first German crews we
fought at the beginning of the
offensive had experience and cour-
age. More recently we met much
younger pilots who had flown very
little Think of what we could dc
II We had more planes!"
was lunching with another grouI
Of pilots 200 miles from there. They
were gay. noisy gathering of &c
men-all sorts of men. Not two
faces were alike This one was the
son of small shopkeeper, this one
was the son of a professor, this one
was a professional officer, son ano
grandson of French officers. There
were foreign faces. too, around the
table. Two or three were Czechs
There was tall, fairhaired Ameri-
can. not very young. He had fought
in the last war as pilot. He hao
enlisted this time in the Foreign
Legion and had managed to be sent
to the front as quickly as possible
He is extremely efficient, timid ano
not talkative He said to me. as il
to give an excuse, to apologize fol
being there: You see. it is just
that I have declared war on the
Nazis all by myself"
Favor "Unglorious" Stories.
This group of pilots has one OF
the highest records of the war
81 victories. The fashion among
these heroes is to tell at length the