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Show ! IWAR ON WESTERN FRONT NOT PHONEY, SAYS KNICKERBOCKER AFTER SURVEY Indian Summer May See Start of Bitter Combat, He Believoc 4. ' " m " I By H-'K. KNICKERBOCKER WITH THE FRENCH ARMY AT THE FRONT, Somewhere in France, Now. 10 (INS) This war It not a "phoney war" and nobody can go with the French army and think that it Is. It is not even at all certain I that the Inactivity which hai Jiuzzled the outside world and ed many Americana to believe I that the combatant! were "pull-1 "pull-1 lng their punches" will continue, con-tinue, many observers have officer said, making a gf-sture to Indicate how gladly be would fee Just that happen. I asked why the allies had not attacked at the beginning of the war when Germany waa tied up In Poland, especially why the allies had not tried to divert some German airplanes from the . unfortunate Poles by attacking German military positions on this aide. In his answer waa contained (CMitlniMe aa Par Two t Counm ThrM become convinced, until next 1 spring. On the contrary. If a few more days of good weather persist, there Is a good chance that .Chancellor Hitler may launch an offensive which will make . war on the western front as real as at any time during the bloodiest period of the last war ' and put to shame the sideline critics abroad who have begun to Jeer as Europe warily approached ap-proached her neat, struggle. When and if he does launch his attack, Hitler's men are going go-ing to find themselves eagerly met by an army superior to theirs in men, morale and materials. This Is my Impression on the first day and night of our second and this time "permanent" visit to the French army, to whom a small group of American correspondents corre-spondents now has become accredited ac-credited "for the duration." Here, "somewhere In France," In the headquarters of one of the senior offices of the French army, we listened to an explana- tion which for the first time made clear tome of the characteristics charac-teristics of this war which have made Americans wonder what It la all about We were surrounded with the blackness of a blackout which made even London teem brilliantly bril-liantly lighted by comparison. . Our host was a man whose word controls the destiny literally of millions. Hut hard, athletic body and tight-lipped, bold-chlnned face made me think by comparison com-parison of certain Prussian officers of-ficers I had met, and realize that, betide thlt type of "tough" French officer, the Germans . witn meir rigidity teem breakable break-able and brittle. There have been two weeks of rain, which have made any kind of battle Impossible, but now we have reached the Indian summer. "A little more sun could dry the ground enough to make any kind of fighting possible,'' the European War Not Phoney, Knickerbocker Discovers this time was an old-time member mem-ber who had shot down 11 planes In th last war. In th opinion of this very authoritative officer, this action demonstrated the moral superiority superi-ority of the French over th German fliers, who as a rule are commanded by an experienced officer who served In Spain and Poland, but whose companion pilots often are youths with insufficient training. German antiaircraft gunnery, he said, was excellent "They put up a regular wall over th Siegfried line and make our planes fly between 18.000 and 31.000 feet or else hedge-hop. But hedge-hopping has the disadvantage dis-advantage that after a while the pilot loses his bearings and has to gain altitude to find out where he la." The officer paid high praise to the American-made Curtiss plsnes used by the French. "When a Curtiss plane goes Into a fight" he said, "it proves itself superior to th German Messerschmidt" (OoaUaiwe Tnm Pas Oa th whole thesis of th overwhelming over-whelming Importance of th air arm in modern war. "The Germans know how Imports Im-ports nt this is," h said, "and you will not how they ara conserving con-serving their forces sine their catastrophic failures In bombing the British fleet, especially at Sea pa Flow. They lost 50 per cent of their squadrons In these attacks, and no air fore can stand that "Air fighting, more than any other kind, depends upon morale. My regiment of Infantry In the last war could lose 50 per cent and hang on, take reinforcements and within a couple of weeks be all right again. The air force can't do that That la th reason rea-son th Germans had to quit" Illustrating th effect of morale mo-rale In air fighting, the officer revealed that In tha recent sensational sen-sational French victory in which nine French planes attacked 77 German plane and brought down nine without any loss, the French craft were attached to the famous "Lafayette Esca-drills, Esca-drills, " which I a continuation of th old American Lafayette squadron, retaining all its traditions tradi-tions and trophies. He also revealed that th commander com-mander of the victorious French |