Evening star., 1945-02-03
Eisenhower's S Praise
OF Weapons Cited for
U.S.. Armament Critics
By the Associated Press.


Answering critics Of American
armament, Maj. Gen. Levin H.
Campbell, Army ordnance chief, yes
terday quoted Gen. Dwight D. Eisen-
hover as saying we have general
superiority" in armament over the
European enemy.
He quoted from letter from Gen.
Eisenhower and said it was the an
swer to some critics who write al
leging inferiority" of certain Amer
lean armor compared with the Ger
mans"
Without naming the critics, but
saying he was referring particular
ly to published reports that our
tanks are not big enough to cope
with the Nazis' vaunted Royal Tiger
and Hunting Panther tanks, both
from the standpoint of armor and
flrepower, Gen. Campbell told the
Associated Press in an interview:
"I could build tank as big as
the Pentagon if the generals in the
field said they wanted one, but there
is no evidence to date that they
want or need tanks larger than
those we now employ. Those men
know what they want-they're good
judges of horse f1esh!"
Reveals New Assault Tank"
At the same time, Gen. Campbell
disclosed that we now have in ac-
ton a new assault tank" which has
double the armor of our 35ton
Gen. Sherman and is about 5 tons
heavier.
Just returned from tour of in
spection of ordnance in the Euro
pean and Mediterranean theaters-
during which he said he inter-
viewed all top-ranking generals and
scores of enlisted men-Gen. Camp
bell said he had their assurance
that this could be said:
I'VE need not only have no apol-
ogy for any item of American ord
nance in comparison with that of
the enemy-but we're leading them
all the way"
Gen. Campbell said that only a
limited number of the assault tanks
had been produced because that is
all the field fighters requested. It's
chiefly special-purpose tank. he
said, designed to knock out road
blocks.
Armor Sacrifices Speed.
"You add armor," he said, "and
you decrease speed and maneuver-
ability. The testimony of Gems. Pat
ton, Hodges and all the rest is that
we want to attack, we want to ma
neuver, we want to keeS mobility"
The text of Gen. Eisenhower's let
ter dated January 18 is as follows:
Dear Gen. Campbell:
Battlefield reports from every
front in the European theater of op-
erations continue to tell of the splen-
did quality of our weapons and am
munition. What we need is more
of both, as well as men, to finish
the job.
Last summer the enemy was de-
feated in Normandy by our fire.
power and the teamwork of our
splendid soldiers at their rifles, NOR
tars, machine guns, artillery, in
their tanks and tank destroyers.
The enemy then retreated 500 miles,
leaving behind much equipment in
order to reach temporary security
in his fixed defenses.
Weapons Improve Steadily.
''The mobility of our ordnance
enabled us to exploit our first sue
cesses in the drive across France,
into Belgium and Germany More
over, throughout the war there has
been a noticeable and steady i'm
proVement in the quality of many
of our weapons and equipment.
Such improvement is mandatory al
ways; the alternative is stagnation
and eventual disaster.
The effectiveness of our ord
nance is partly due to simplicity in
design and partly to the range of
United States equipment which pro-
vides weapon for every target.
The enemy's battle losses have been
far greater than ours. In pieces
of artillery the enemy has lost
eight to our one. We have knocked
out twice as many tanks as we
nave lost.
"We have a general superiority
In quality and quantity of our ord
nance, a superiority that must al
ways be maintained"
ma SJ Nj