Evening star., 1943-12-11
Arnold Sees Germans
Too Groggy' 10 Offer
Strong Invasion Fight
Army Air Forces Chief
Makes Fast Tour of
Italian Battlefront
BY the Associated Press.

BY Inc Associated Press.
AN AMERICAN FIGHTER
BASE IN WESTERN ITALY, Dec.
1.-THE chief of the United
States Army Air Forces, Gen.
Henry H. Arnold, plowed
through the mud of battle air.
fields in a fast tour of the front
today after predicting that the
Germans, if they are not CON-
pletely knocked out of the war
by air attacks, will be too
groggy" to offer much resist
ance by the time a new invasion
OF Europe takes place.
Fresh from the Cairo and Teheran
Allied conferences, the American air
commander made the prediction
yesterday during a rapid view of the
Italian fighting front in which he
flew within easy fighter range of
the German lines. He was accom-
panied by 1t. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz,
chief of the Northwest African Air
Forces.
Today cooks and pilots poured
their ideas and troubles into his
ears as he visited fighter and ABS
invader stations close behind the 5th
Army.
Saw Front Lines.
Gen. Spaatz flew Gen. Arnold
right across Italy from the Adriatic
side to the western battlefront in a
bomber at top speed yesterday. Sew
eral times they came within sight of
the front lines in the capped
mountains, So rapidly did they
travel, half dozen correspondents
accompanying the party in a CAT
transport had to skip fields in order
to keep ap.
Gen. Arnold Climaxed the trip
with a conference at the headquar-
ters of Gen. Spaatz, and Maj. Gen.
James Doolittle, chief of the Stra-
tegic Air Force, with other American
air generals at which they mapped
out and co-ordinated a greater
winter campaign from this theater
and from England to batter the Ger
mans to their knees.
These high spots were given by
Gen. Arnold at a press conference:
"As the number of bombers in
crease the percentage of losses is
going to decrease Operations from
Italy are going to force the Ger
mans to spread their defenses. !"
He cited figures showing the rapid
buildup of American heavy bomber
strength in England and this
theater.
Couldn't Stop "Fortresses."
"The Germans tried everything to
halt the Fortresses," but American
technicians have been able to meet
every form Of attack.
1--WE hope to bring over Europe
such air types that with Russia we
will have a 360-degree bombing of
Germany-from every SIDE" he
said in a reference to new Ameri-
can bombers coming off the assem-
bly, lines.
The Germans have nothing to
look forward to except ever-increas-
ing numbers of homeless people
greater difficulties and fewer COM
forts as result of the planned air
assault, he declared.
The japanese have brought out a
new type fighter faster than the
Zero and more heavily armed, but
they have been upset by Allied air
superiority in the Pacific.
The thing that most impressed
me in Mediterranean air operations, -
he said, was the great flexibility of
the air arm. The efficiency of the
striking forces not only has been
maintained as fields were moved
from place to place and country to
country, but actually increased
Visited A-36 Base.
Gen. Arnold pinned a Distin-
guished Flying Cross on the tunic
OF an American Spitfire pilot, 1t.
Robert Weismuller of Cincinnati
pried into field kitchens and cues
(9A0 ADNI0Y a H.--