Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 138, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1917 — Pershing Says Americans Must Not Lose Sight of Necessities. [ARTICLE]

Pershing Says Americans Must Not Lose Sight of Necessities.

America is talking too much about about that vast fleet of aeroplanes and not paying enough attention to the equally vital infantry and artillery arms of offense, in the opinion of Maj. General Pershing’s staff. After reading cables to French papers on the nation-wide agitation in America urging congress to approve huge aero fleet plans he declared : “While supremacy in the air is imperative, aeroplanes alone are not going to win this war. There are three big elements—infantry, artillery and aviation. The three should be considered in balanced co-ordination. One arm is as important as the other. “In a modern war such as this the infantry depends on the artillery. .ft would. be foolish to have superiority to infantry, if we did not have the heavy guns to blast out the enemy and tear up the otherwise unsuitable wire defenses in front of his position before the infantry went into action. “It is likewise just as ill-advised to have an overbalanced aviation branch, if we do not have sufficient guns.”